A  typical  prosperous  farming  Japanese  family  of  Florin,  in  friendly  social  relations 
with  American  neighbors. 


TO 

ANDREW    CARNEGIE 

AND    THE    HOST    OF    LOYAL    WORKERS 

FOR    UNIVERSAL    PEACE   AND 

THE    FRIENDSHIP    OF    THE    EAST    AND    THE    WEST 
THIS  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED 


281595 


THE   AMERICAN 
JAPANESE    PROBLEM 

A  STUDY  OF 

THE   RACIAL   RELATIONS   OF   THE   EAST 
AND   THE   WEST 


BY 

SIDNEY  L.   GULICK,  M.A.,  D.D. 

PROFESSOR    IN    DOSHISHA    UNIVERSITY    AND    LECTURER    IN    THE 
IMPERIAL    UNIVERSITY    OF    KYOTO,    JAPAN 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD,"  "JAPANESE  EVOLUTION 
PSYCHIC  AND  SOCIAL,"   "THE  WHITE  PERIL  IN  THE  FAR  EAST," 

"SHINSHINKWAHON    (iN   JAPANESE),"    ETC. 


r 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'? 

1914 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEB  PAGE 

--—    I.    AMERICA'S  ORIENTAL  PROBLEM 3 

^j^*  II.    CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 10 

III.    MISUNDERSTANDINGS,  EXPLANATIONS,  AND  INTERPRE 


TATIONS 


28 


IV.  MISUNDERSTANDINGS,  EXPLANATIONS,  AND  INTERPRE 
TATIONS  (CONTINUED) 52 

V.    FACTS  ABOUT  FLORIN 77 

VI.  JAPANESE  EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM     ...  90 

VII.    ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE? 118 

VIII.  ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  (CONTINUED)    ....  147 

IX.    CAN  AMERICANS  ASSIMILATE  JAPANESE? 169 

-  X.    CALIFORNIA'S  ANTI-JAPANESE  AGITATION 184 

XI.    UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS 197 

XII.    THE  PERILS — YELLOW  AND  WHITE 216 

XIII.  THE  PERILS — YELLOW  AND  WHITE  (CONTINUED)     .  231 

XIV.  ILLUSIONS — OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL 247 

XV.  ILLUSIONS — OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL  (CONTINUED)  259 

XVI.    THE  REAL  YELLOW  PERIL 274 

XVII.  OUTLINES  OF  A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY  .  281 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

APPENDICES 

PAGE 

A.  LITERATURE  RELATING  TO  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  JAPANESE 

IN  CALIFORNIA 311 

B.  A  SUMMARY  BY  LABOR  COMMISSIONER  J.  D.  MACKENZIE 

OF  THE  REPORT  OF  THE  "SPECIAL  STATE  INVESTIGA 
TION  OF  1909"  OF  THE  JAPANESE  IN  CALIFORNIA. 
GIVEN  TO  THE  PRESS  MAY  30,  1910 316 

C.  Two  CHARTS  ILLUSTRATING  THE  PROPORTION  OF  WHITE 

AND  JAPANESE  FARM  LABORERS  ACCORDING  TO  THE 
PRINCIPAL  CROPS 324 

D.  EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  JAPANESE-AMERICAN  TREATY  OF 

1911 328 

E.  EXTRACTS   FROM   THE  TREATY   BETWEEN   THE   UNITED 

STATES  AND  CHINA  CONCERNING  IMMIGRATION  OF 
NOVEMBER  17,  1880,  AND  REFERENCES  TO  THE  SUB 
SEQUENT  ACTS  OF  CONGRESS  RELATIVE  TO  THE  SAME  331 

F.  CALIFORNIA'S  ANTI-ALIEN  LAND  LAW,  MAY  19,  1913  .     333 

G.  JAPANESE    LAWS    REGULATING    LAND-OWNERSHIP     BY 

FOREIGNERS 336 

INDEX  .  341 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


A     TYPICAL      PROSPEROUS      FARMING      JAPANESE      FAMILY     OF 

FLORIN Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

JAPANESE  LABORERS  AT  WORK  ON  A  STRAWBERRY  FARM  IN 
FLORIN.  THE  AMERICANIZATION  OF  JAPANESE  FARM  LABOR  12 

MR.  TAKETA'S  RANCH  IN  FLORIN 30 

AN  AMERICANIZED  JAPANESE  FAMILY  OF  FLORIN      ....       46 
CHILDREN  ATTENDING  THE  JAPANESE  SCHOOL  AT  FLORIN    .     .       66 

THE  HOUSE  OF  MR.  AND  MRS.  SUZUKI,  FLORIN.  THE  HOUSE 
THAT  MR.  MURAI  BUILT  WITH  HIS  OWN  HANDS  ....  78 

INTERIOR  OF  THE  HOME  OF  MR.  AND  MRS.  TANAKA  OF  FLORIN      96 

THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  AT  FLORIN  CENTRE 112 

MR.  OTTO  FUKUSHIMA.     MRS.  OTTO  FUKUSHIMA.     THE  FOUR 

DAUGHTERS  OF  MR.  AND  MRS.  FUKUSHIMA 130 

THE  MOTHER  ON  THE  LEFT  IS  HALF  AMERICAN  AND  HALF 
JAPANESE.  THE  MOTHER  AND  SON  ON  THE  RIGHT  ARE  PURE 
JAPANESE 150 

THE  FATHER  OF  THE  LITTLE  GIRL  ON  THE  LEFT  IS  JAPANESE, 
HER  MOTHER.  A  CHINESE  WOMAN.  THE  FATHER  OF  THE 
CHILDREN  ON  THE  RIGHT  IS  JAPANESE  AND  THEIR  MOTHER 
AMERICAN .  170 

THIS  PHOTOGRAPH  ILLUSTRATES  THE  MISLEADING  AND  SOME 
TIMES  MALICIOUS  CHARACTER  OF  SOME  OF  THE  STATEMENTS 
MADE  BY  ANTI-JAPANESE  WRITERS .  194 

MRS.  DR.  MATSUYE  SUZUKI.  YOUNG  JAPANESE  GRADUATE  OF 

YALE.    MR.  AND  MRS.  NOJIRI 220 

ix 


x  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 
PAGE 

JAPANESE  CHILDREN  IN  THE  METHODIST  HOME  IN  SAN  FRAN 
CISCO     244 

JAPANESE  CHILDREN  IN  A  METHODIST  KINDERGARTEN  IN  SAN 
FRANCISCO 266 

TWENTY-SIX  PUPILS  OF  KAWAIAHAO  SEMINARY,  HONOLULU     .     290 


THE 
AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 


THE  morning  star  leads  forth  the  dawn, 

But  with  the  coming  of  the  sun 
The  morning  star  hath  paled  and  gone, 

And  never  is  their  glory  one. 

From  nature's  world  our  symbols  come. 

Heaven's  stars  are  on  this  flag  unfurl'd, 
On  that  the  dazzling,  rising  flame 

Of  sunfire  on  the  Orient  world. 

They  float  together  now  on  high. 

The  Stars  still  lead  as  they  have  done 
Yet  pale  not  from  the  morning  sky 

Before  the  glory  of  the  Sun. 

Arid  these  may  light  the  Greater  Day 

If  so  we  will,  if  so  we  try.  .  .  . 
Columbia,  choose  the  nobler  way! 

Through  thee  the  sunder'd  worlds  draw  nigh! 


THE 
AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

CHAPTER  I 
AMERICA'S  ORIENTAL  PROBLEM 

WHITES  in  America  number  approximately  ninety 
millions,  Asiatics  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand;  yet  we  face  an  ominous  racial  situation. 

California,  fearing  an  overwhelming  Asiatic  in 
vasion,  demands  complete  exclusion  of  Japanese  as 
of  Chinese  and  desires  vast  military  preparations. 
Japan,  on  the  other  hand,  for  sixty  years  guided 
by  America's  friendship,  conscious  of  faithful  ad 
ministration  of  the  "gentlemen's  agreement,"  and 
deeply  wounded  by  California's  recent  antialien 
legislation,  claims  of  us  equal  rights  for  her  citizens 
with  those  of  other  lands  and  demands  courteous 
international  treatment. 

Misunderstanding,  foreboding  fear,  humiliating 
treatment,  on  the  side  of  America;  disappointment, 
indignation,  resentment,  on  the  side  of  Japan;  such 
are  the  mutterings  of  a  threatening  international 
storm.  This  statement,  however,  presents  but  a 
superficial  view.  The  real  problem  is  deeper  and 


I'        THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

has  many  phases.  It  arises  out  of  the  enormous 
differences  between  American  and  Asiatic  civiliza 
tions.  This  difference  is  variously  described.  United 
States  Senator  Perkins,  in  a  speech  on  the  proposed 
Chinese  exclusion  law  said  in  1902:  "  Personal  free 
dom,  the  home,  education,  Christian  ideals,  respect 
for  law  and  order,  are  found  on  one  side;  and  on  the 
other  traffic  in  human  flesh,  domestic  life  which 
renders  a  home  impossible,  a  desire  for  only  that 
knowledge  which  may  be  at  once  coined  into  dollars, 
a  contempt  for  our  religion  as  new,  novel  and  with 
out  substantial  basis,  and  no  idea  of  the  meaning 
of  law  other  than  a  regulation  to  be  evaded  by 
cunning  or  by  bribery." 

Mr.  Walter  MacArthur,  of  San  Francisco,  says: 
"The  Asiatic  does  not  think  in  terms  of  Caucasian 
morality.  He  lacks  the  racial  impulse  that  makes 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  high  standard  of  living. 
He  is  a  menace  to  free  government  because  he  lacks 
the  inspiration  of  personal  liberty." 

In  a  word,  from  the  American  point  of  view,  every 
thing  in  Asiatic  civilization  goes  by  opposites.  Their 
language,  logic,  science,  and  medicine  are  folly  tt 
us  and  ours  to  them;  their  morals  are  often  our 
crimes  and  their  religion  our  superstitions.  Many 
of  their  national  and  family  customs,  political,  sci 
entific,  and  philosophical  conceptions,  and  moral 
and  religious  convictions  are  diametrically  opposed 
to  ours.  It  is  simply  impossible  for  us  to  understand 


AMERICA'S  ORIENTAL  PROBLEM  5 

them,  and  of  course  they  cannot  comprehend  us  nor 
enter  really  into  our  life.  So  thinks  the  average 
Occidental.  And  this  is  what  Kipling  is  mistakenly 
supposed  to  have  meant  in  his  famous  ballad: 

"Oh,  East  is  East,  and  West  is  West, 
And  never  the  twain  shall  meet, 
Till  Earth  and  Sky  stand  presently, 
At  God's  great  Judgment  Seat." 

But  the  problem  of  the  East  and  the  West  is  more 
even  than  this.  Asiatics  swarm  by  millions.  For 
ages  their  struggle  for  existence  has  been  incon 
ceivably  severe;  they  have  developed  big  brains, 
extraordinary  skill  in  farming,  unlimited  capacity 
for  hard  work,  and  incredible  ability  for  living  on 
little  food.  When  they  come  over  to  America  their 
industry  and  thrift  are  amazing;  they  underlive,  un 
derbid,  and  outwork  us.  In  open  competition  the 
white  man  has  no  show. 

It  follows,  does  it  not,  that  the  Asiatic  must  be 
excluded  from  America?  "The  conclusion  of  the 
whole  matter  is  that  exclusion  is  tne  only  alterna 
tive  of  race  degeneracy  or  race  war,"  says  Mr.  Mac- 
Arthur.  So  long  as  Asiatics  stay  in  their  own  lands 
they  may  follow  their  own  absurd  ways  of  thinking 
and  behaving  if  they  wish  to.  Nevertheless,  they 
must  not  be  allowed  to  overturn  our  civilization  nor 
be  permitted  to  turn  us  into  Asiatics  by  ruinous 
economic  competition. 

But  what  of  the  future?    Japanese  are  learning  all 


6         THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

the  white  man  knows  about  science,  industry,  ma 
chinery,  and  warfare.  China  is  following  in  Japan's 
footsteps.  In  a  few  score  years  they  will  have  added 
all  our  special  attainments  and  powers  to  theirs. 
Their  factories  will  produce  all  we  are  now  sending 
them,  and  where  will  be  our  commerce  with  the 
Orient?  Worse  than  this,  they  will  be  able  to  manu 
facture  what  we  use  far  more  cheaply  than  we  can 
do  the  manufacturing  ourselves,  and  what  will  be 
come  of  our  industries?  They  will  build  and  sail 
ships  and  capture  all  oversea  trade. 

Moreover,  they  will  develop  vast  armies  and  huge 
navies  which  they  will  of  course  use  against  us  to 
enforce  their  rights  and  even  their  ambitions,  just 
as  we  have  used  our  armies  and  navies  during  the 
past  three  hundred  years  in  conquering  the  world. 
What  possible  defence  has  the  white  man  against 
awaking  and  oncoming  Asia? 

These  are  the  problems  that  white  men  are  begin 
ning  to  think  they  see.  British  America  and  Cali 
fornia,  Central  and  South  America,  New  Zealand 
and  Australia,  South  Africa,  and  Siberia,  every  land 
where  the  white  man  is  dominant,  is  adopting  the 
policy  which  Japan  devised  three  hundred  years  ago 
— exclusion  of  the  alien  race  and  civilization. 

But  this  is  only  one  half  of  the  problem,  the  half 
the  white  man  sees.  There  is  also  the  half  the  Asiatic 
sees.  This,  too,  the  modern  man  must  know  if  he  is 
really  to  understand  the  world-situation.  How,  then, 


AMERICA'S  ORIENTAL  PROBLEM  7 

does  the  yellow  man  look  at  it?  Very  much  as  the 
white  man  does — only  from  the  other  side  of  the 
shield. 

"We  are  an  innocent,  peaceful  people,"  they  think, 
"wishing  to  be  left  alone.  We  have  developed  our 
civilization,  the  best  and  the  oldest  in  the  world. 
The  aggressive  domineering  white  man  has  recently 
begun  to  overrun  the  earth;  he  has  destroyed  many 
peoples,  overthrown  their  governments,  seized  their 
lands,  and  murdered  countless  millions.  He  re 
gards  neither  right  nor  heaven.  Might  alone  is  his 
god.  We  have  never  interfered  with  him,  but  here 
he  is  all  around  us  holding  his  conquered  lands  with 
a  mighty  grip,  demanding  trade  and  an  open  door, 
and  so-called  rights,  in  our  part  of  the  world.  His 
uncouth  ways,  his  materialistic  civilization  and  his 
strange  beliefs,  are  dangerous  to  our  ancient  and 
noble  life.  It  is  true  that  at  present  we  are  weaker 
than  he,  for  we  have  never  believed  in  fighting. 
For  war  is  neither  the  rational  nor  the  right  way  to 
settle  difficulties.  But  since  that  is  his  way  and  the 
only  way  he  understands,  we  will  learn  his  secrets; 
master  his  methods;  reorganize  our  governments; 
establish  army  and  navy;  and  introduce  the  instru 
ments  of  Western  civilization,  adding  all  its  good 
points  to  ours;  thus  shall  we  be  able  to  resist  his 
aggressions,  maintain  our  independence  and  take 
our  rightful  dominant  place  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth,  For  we  are  inherently  superior  to  the 


8         THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

white  man,  not  only  in  economic  efficiency,  but  in 
brain  power,  general  culture,  and  moral  character. 
And  what  a  shame  it  is  that  the  domineering  inso 
lent  white  man  has  seized  all  the  great  unoccupied 
countries  with  their  vast  natural  resources,  and  self 
ishly  holds  them  for  himself,  while  we  who  consti 
tute  more  than  a  half  of  the  world's  most  cultured 
peoples  are  cooped  up  in  these  limited  lands.  Surely 
the  white  nations  must  finally  be  forced  if  necessary 
to  grant  us  that  equality  of  opportunity  and  courtesy 
of  treatment  which  they  accord  one  another." 

Such,  in  briefest  terms,  is  the  dramatic,  hay,  the 
tragic,  situation  to-day.  California,  British  Colum 
bia,  Australia,  Japan,  and  India  are  beginning  to 
be  conscious  of  the  vast  race  problem  now  arising 
between  the  East  and  the  West.  China  is  still 
ignorant,  but  will  not  remain  so  many  decades 
longer.  A  new  era  in  human  history  is  thus  be 
ginning.  Great  nations,  races,  and  civilization,  for 
ages  self-sufficient,  proud,  ambitious,  determined, 
are  now  face  to  face.  Shall  mutual  misunderstand 
ings,  suspicions,  aggressions,  resentments,  indigna 
tion,  both  East  and  West,  go  on  for  decades,  grow 
ing  ever  more  acute,  ending  finally  in  fierce  race 
warfare?  Shall  the  eight  hundred  millions  of  Asia, 
united  and  armed  with  Western  science  and  battle 
ships,  be  pitted  in  race  war  against  the  peoples  of 
Christendom?  Or  is  there  some  better  way? 

The  writer  believes  the  Yellow  Peril  may  be 


AMERICA'S  ORIENTAL  PROBLEM  9 

transformed  into  golden  advantages  for  us,  even  as 
the  White  Peril  in  the  Orient  is  bringing  unex 
pected  benefits  to  those  lands.  The  West  needs  the 
East  as  the  East  needs  the  West.  Right  treatment 
of  Asiatics  by  white  men  at  this  juncture  will  surely 
avert  the  anticipated  race  collision.  For  this  we  need 
a  new  oriental  policy. 


CHAPTER  II 
CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

FOE  the  attainment  of  an  oriental  policy  at  once 
rational  and  practical  a  study  of  the  concrete  situa 
tion  in  California  is  essential. 

Japanese  immigration  to  California  has  been  going 
on  for  about  twenty-five  years.  A  summary  state 
ment  shows  the  number  arriving  in  the  United 
States  in  the  various  decades: 

1861-1870 218 

1871-1880 149 

1881-1890 2,270 

1891-1900 20,826 

1901-1910 62,432 

Total 85,895 

Making  allowance  for  those  returning  to  Japan, 
we  find  that  the  total  number  in  the  United  States 
for  1900  was  about  24,000  and  in  1910,  71,000.  The 
majority  of  these  have,  of  course,  remained  in  Cali 
fornia.  According  to  the  census  reports  for  1890, 
1900,  and  1910,  the  number  residing  in  the  Pacific 
States  was,  respectively,  1,559,  18,269,  and  57,628. 
The  vast  majority  of  these  are  in  California,  about 
55,000,  in  1910,  and  it  is  well  to  note  that  of  these, 

according  to  the  "Special  State  Investigation  of 

10 


CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM         11 

1909,"  sixty-five  per  cent  were  engaged  in  agricul 
ture,  fifteen  per  cent  in  domestic  service,  fifteen  per 
cent  in  supplying  the  wants  of  the  Japanese  popula 
tion  throughout  the  State,  and  five  per  cent  were 
officials,  professionals,  students,  and  others. 

Californian  opposition  to  Japanese  immigration  is 
based  on  experience  with  the  above  number  of 
Japanese  for  the  period  of  time  indicated.  What 
now  are  the  specific  charges  made  on  the  basis  of 
this  experience?  They  may  be  arranged  in  five 
principal  groups — economic,  political,  moral,  racial, 
and  miscellaneous. 


Japanese,  it  is  argued,  are  undesirable  immigrants 
because,  being  unmarried  and  being  willing  to  live 
on  almost  nothing,  they  underbid  and  outwork  the 
white  man.  After  driving  him  out  the  price  of  wages 
is  gradually  advanced  to  a  rate  even  higher  than 
that  formerly  paid  the  white  laborer* 

They  are  also  undesirable  because  they  are  willing 
to  labor  longer  hours  and  under  any  conditions  what 
ever,  however  unhygienic,  thus  lowering  the  stand 
ard  of  work  and  the  scale  of  living.  It  is  impossible 
for  white  labor  to  maintain  the  standard  wage  and 
the  standard  length  of  a  day's  work  when  brought 
into  competition  with  the  Asiatic.  The  only  way, 
therefore,  in  which  to  maintain  these  is  to  exclude 
all  Asiatic  labor. 


12       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

Again,  there  are  those  who  object  to  Japanese 
labor  on  the  ground  that  the  Japanese  is  too  enter 
prising  and  thrifty.  He  is  not  content  to  remain  a 
mere  hand,  but  aspires  to  economic  independence, 
He  seeks  to  understand  the  business  in  which  he  is 
employed,  and  at  the  earliest  possible  date  he  sets 
up  for  himself,  competing  as  a  rival  with  those  from 
whom  he  learned  the  ins  and  outs  of  the  business. 
Being  willing  and  able  to  conduct  his  business  on  a 
smaller  scale  of  profits,  he  can  easily  undersell  white 
competitors  and  in  time  drive  them  out. 

Another  form  of  economic  objection  relates  to  the 
failure  of  Japanese  to  keep  up  such  property  as  they 
may  acquire.  Instances  are  cited  in  which  Japanese 
lease  city  property.  They  do  not  give  it  proper 
care  either  in  the  way  of  cleaning  or  of  repairing. 
Before  long  it  begins  to  look  shabby.  The  value  of 
adjacent  property  falls;  more  Japanese  buy  it  up, 
house  by  house,  resulting  in  the  same  dilapidated 
appearance  spreading  to  a  whole  section — the 
"Japanese  quarter. " 

Similarly  in  regard  to  farm  lands.  A  Japanese 
leases  land  at  a  fair  rental.  He  deliberately  im 
poverishes  the  land,  being  satisfied  with  but  small 
returns,  thus  inducing  the  white  owner  to  sell. 
Thereafter  he  farms  with  great  skill.  He  employs 
large  numbers  of  fellow  Japanese,  who  live  in  a 
miserable  shack,  possibly  with  one  woman  to  a 
gang  of  men,  and  in  time  secures  splendid  profits; 


Japanese  laborers  on  a  strawberry  farm  in  Florin.  This  illustrates  the  stooping  work  for 
which  Japanese  farmers  are  peculiarly  adapted.  White  men  find  berry  culture  exceed 
ingly  irksome.  Japanese  labor  accordingly  produces  90  per  cent  of  the  berry  crop  in 
California. 


The  Americanization  of  Japanese  farm  labor  is  illustrated  by  this  photograph.  This  straw 
berry  ranch,  formerly  a  barren  field,  has  been  brought  to  a  hisrh  state  of  productivity 
by  Japanese  industry.  It  was  used,  however,  by  Mr.  McClatchy  with  the  misleading 
title  "This  farm,  formerly  owned  by  an  American,  is  now  the  property  of  a  prosperous 
Japanese  farmer,"  which  does  not  suggest  that  the  American  was  glac  to  sell  it  at  a  good 
price;  he  made  more  by  selling  than  he  could  by  cultivating  it. 


I 


CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM         13 

but  in  the  meantime  his  white  neighbors  have  taken 
a  dislike  to  the  entire  Japanese  gang  and  refuse  to 
associate  with  them.  Ere  long,  as  opportunity 
comes,  the  white  neighbor  is  glad  to  lease  or  sell  his 
land  to  other  Japanese,  even  at  a  loss,  and  moves 
out.  Thus  it  has  come  to  pass  that  Japanese  have 
gained  possession  of  entire  sections  of  some  of  the 
best  farm  lands  in  California. 

A  charge  sometimes  brought  against  the  Japanese 
is  that  they  employ  only  Japanese — they  never  give 
white  laborers  a  chance. 

And  in  trade  they  sell  to  one  another  at  rates 
cheaper  than  those  at  which  they  sell  to  whites. 
This  is,  indeed,  but  one  manifestation  of  a  highly 
objectionable  clannishness. 

Some  argue  that  it  is  important  to  preserve  the 
natural  resources  for  future  generations  of  white 
men.  To  allow  Japanese  or  other  Asiatics  to  buy 
up  vast  areas  is  to  deplete  resources  for  these  future 
generations. 

II 

Opposition  to  Japanese  on  political  grounds  is  not 
often  urged,  yet  occasionally  it  is. 

The  point  of  criticism  is  that  Japanese  take  no 
interest  or  share  in  the  political  life  of  the  section  in 
which  they  live.  They  have  no  local  pride,  no  de 
sire  to  help  make  the  locality  better.  They  take  no 
interest  in  their  neighbors.  They  live  quite  inde- 


14       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

pendently  of  the  surrounding  communities,  often, 
indeed,  forming  communities  of  their  own,  imperia 
in  imperio.  As  one  critic  expressed  it  to  the  writer: 
"The  Japanese  do  not  make  good  residents  and 
would  not  make  good  citizens."  x/'S  McCl(xta^ 

III 

The  most  serious  and  persistent  criticisms,  how 
ever,  are  aimed  at  the  alleged  Japanese  lack  of  moral 
character. 

A  criticism,  almost  universal,  is  that  Japanese  do 
not  keep  their  word;  they  make  promises  and  break 
them  without  the  slightest  hesitation.  A  gang  of 
workmen  may  be  employed  to  pick  an  orchard  on  a 
definite  contract.  Oftentimes  in  the  midst  of  the 
process  a  more  tempting  offer  of  wages  is  made  else 
where;  at  once  the  whole  gang  leaves  and  the  help 
less  employer  suffers  great  loss,  for  no  substitutes 
can  be  found  in  time  to  save  the  crop. 

Or  the  employer  may  be  deliberately  taken  ad 
vantage  of.  When  the  gang  has  begun  its  work  and 
it  is  evident  that  the  employer  is  completely  at  its 
mercy,  a  strike  for  higher  wages  is  made,  which  is, 
of  course,  successful. 

Japanese  boys  in  domestic  service  are  said  to  be 
particularly  irresponsible.  They  easily  make  prom 
ises  which  they  as  easily  break.  The  suddenness, 
also,  with  which  they  leave — oftentimes  without 


CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM         15 

even  an  hour's  warning — is  a  cause  of  much  com 
plaint.  "They  will  leave,  without  notice  or  consid 
eration,  on  the  slightest  provocation." 

Furthermore,  the  Japanese  are  vindictive;  if  they 
feel  they  have  not  been  properly  treated  they  com 
monly  retaliate  in  some  way  that  brings  serious  loss 
on  the  employer.  Or,  even  worse,  if  they  fail  to 
secure  a  desired  job,  or  contract,  or  a  piece  of  land, 
they  will  find  some  way  of  injuring  the  American 
employer  or  owner. 

Japanese,  moreover,  like  Chinese,  are  inveterate 
gamblers. 

Japanese  are  also  charged  with  lack  of  all  ideas  of 
sex  morality.  "  Prostitution  is  a  most  character 
istic  Japanese  industry,"  says  Mr.  Chester  Rowell. 
Houses  of  prostitution  flourish  wherever  Japanese 
congregate.  Japanese  women  are  so  subservient  that 
they  easily  become  prostitutes.  Many  a  Japanese 
is  supposed  to  make  his  living  by  the  prostitution  of 
his  wife. 

Japanese  are  also,  it  is  alleged,  quite  untrust 
worthy  in  financial  relations.  Stores  have  generally 
ceased  doing  business  with  them  except  on  a  cash 
basis,  for  they  have  found  that  Japanese  so  often 
fail  to  pay  for  goods  purchased  on  credit. 

In  short,  Japanese  "have  no  conception  of  sin 
and  home"  and  "no  moral  convictions  in  regard  to 
the  sacredness  of  the  contract,  the  sanctity  of  the 
home  and  the  value  of  woman." 


\ 


16       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  in  all  these  points, 
except  those  of  gambling  and  sex  morality,  the 
Chinese  are  invariably  cited  as  far  surpassing  the 
Japanese.  "  His  word  is  as  good  as  his  bond."  "  He 
carries  out  his  contracts;  he  does  not  strike  for 
higher  wages,  even  though  his  employer  is  at  his 
mercy."  "  He  never  promises  lightly,  but  when  he 
has  once  given  his  word  he  carries  out  his  promise 
to  the  letter."  "He  never  retaliates." 


IV 

The  belief  is  almost  universal  in  California  that 
Japanese  racial  characteristics  are  such  as  to  render 
them  unassimilable.  Those  who  urge  this  point 
usually  admit,  however,  that,  all  in  all,  the  Japanese 
are  not  inferior  to  Americans,  even  in  matters  of 
morality.  Such  disputants  are  often  ready  to  admit 
that  exceptional  cases  of  immorality  have  been 
exaggerated  and  generalized. 

These  contestants  claim,  however,  that  even 
though,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  Japanese  may  be 
allowed  to  be  superior  to  Americans  in  every  way, 
the  sufficient  ground  for  strict  Japanese  exclusion  is 
the  unquestioned  fact  that  he  belongs  to  a  different 
race.  He  is  brown;  we  are  white;  and  this  differ 
ence,  they  insist,  carries  with  it  such  psychological, 
social,  and  civilizational  differences  that  any  attempt 
to  live  together  is  sure  to  be  disastrous.  The  further 


CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM         17 

deduction  is  that  the  only  hope  of  safety,  the  only 
means  whereby  the  friendship  of  our  two  nations 
can  be  maintained,  is  to  agree  to  keep  apart,  each 
living  in  the  land  God  has  given  us. 

This  position  is  presented  in  many  forms  and  with 
considerable  variety  of  emphasis. 

Japanese,  it  is  stated,  are  so  completely  Japanese 
they  are  always  and  everywhere  Japanese. 
Contrary  to  the  average  run  of  mankind,  every 
Japanese  thinks  of  his  race  and  country  first  and  only 
later  of  himself.  It  is  claimed  that  his  patriotism, 
therefore,  is  of  such  an  intense  nature  that  it  is  ab 
solutely  impossible  for  him  to  expatriate  himself  and 
become  a  loyal  citizen  of  another  land;  that,  even 
if  he  should  do  so  in  form,  it  would  be  in  form  only; 
he  could  not  possibly  become  a  sincere  American; 
he  would  still  be  seeking  to  promote  the  interests 
of  his  native  land  and  his  Emperor  and  would  in 
evitably  be  a  source  of  danger  to  us  in  case  of  war 
with  Japan. 

v  —  Moreover,  Japanese  are  so  different  from  us,  it  is 
j  asserted,  that  mutual  understanding  is  impossible; 
their  social  customs  are  the  very  opposite  of  ours; 
they  are  stolid  in  appearance  and  stoical  in  spirit. 
In  a  word,  they  are  "  inscrutable  "  and  "mysterious"; 
they  are  impelled  by  motives  we  do  not  and  cannot 
understand,  and  doubtless  we  appear  the  same  to 
them. 

It  follows,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  they  are  not 


18       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

assimilable.  They  do  not  wish  to  become  Americans 
and  we  do  not  wish  to  have  them.  Even  though 
they  may  adopt  our  modes  of  clothing,  housing,  and 
eating,  and  many  of  our  social  habits,  the  change  is 
only  superficial  and  for  a  purpose;  down  in  their 
hearts  they  are  the  same  unchanging  Asiatics,  smil 
ing  and  deceitful. 

Because  of  all  this,  intermarriage  between  Japa 
nese  and  whites  is  particularly  obnoxious.  How  can 
oil  and  water  mix? — or  brown  and  white?  The  off 
spring  is  "neither  Japanese  nor  American";  what  is 
it  but  a  fearsome  monstrosity? 

Specific  illustrations  are  cited.  It  is  charged  that 
in  such  places  as  Vacaville  and  Florin  Japanese  have 
established  entirely  Japanese  communities;  they 
have  possessed  themselves  of  large  consecutive  areas 
and  constitute  so  large  a  majority  of  the  population 
that  the  children  threaten  to  swamp  the  schools.  In 
consequence,  the  white  population  is  moving  out, 
for  they  do  not  like  the  Japanese  and  do  not  wish 
their  children  to  associate  with  them.  This  still  fur 
ther  aggravates  the  difficulty,  for  it  leaves  compact 
Japanese  colonies,  with  their  national  customs  and 
Buddhist  religion,  cankers  in  our  body  politic. 


In  addition  to  the  various  objections  to  Japanese 
mentioned  above  is  a  miscellaneous  group  which  also 


CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM         19 

must  be  taken  into  account  by  one  who  seeks  to  un 
derstand  the  question  in  all  its  aspects. 

For  instance,  there  are  those  who  say  that  Cali- 
fornian  opposition  to  the  Japanese  is  really  due  to 
the  bellicose  and  jingo  spirit  in  Japan;  that  since 
Japan's  two  successful  wars  she  has  got  the  "big 
head"  and  fancies  she  can  compel  other  nations  to 
do  her  will  by  threats  of  military  invasion;  that  it 
was  the  Japanese  belligerent  attitude  toward  Amer 
ica,  when  the  first  anti-Japanese  bills  were  presented 
in  the  California  legislature,  that  aroused  Califor- 
nian  interest  and  gave  the  bills  their  vitality;  that 
but  for  this  the  bills  would  have  died  a  natural 
death. 

Again,  Japanese,  unlike  all  other  immigrant  peo 
ples,  insist  on  taking  a  position  of  race  equality  with 
the  whites.  This  the  latter  resent.  They  intend 
to  be  supreme  and  will  brook  no  rival. 

Every  state  and  nation,  some  urge,  has  the  in 
herent  right  to  decide  for  itself  who  may  and  who 
may  not  become  citizens.  It  is  simply  intolerable 
that  any  foreign  nation  shall  claim  the  right  of 
naturalization  or  immigration  for  its  people.  These 
are  privileges  to  be  granted — not  rights  to  be  claimed. 

How  unreasonable,  say  some,  is  Japan's  claim  for 
her  people  in  America  when  she  herself  does  not 
allow  Americans  to  own  land  in  Japan  or  even  to 
become  citizens.  And  still  more  self-contradictory 
is  her  position  seen  to  be  when  we  note  that  she 


20       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

does  not  allow  the  coming  to  her  shores  of  laborers 
from  other  lands.  Has  she  not  repeatedly  exported 
Chinese  coolies? 

Another  argument  urged  by  some  is  that  it  would 
be  folly  to  adjust  our  laws  so  as  to  admit  of  Japanese 
naturalization,  seeing  that  the  Japanese  Government 
permits  no  Japanese  to  expatriate  himself.  Natu 
ralization  as  American  citizens  is  neither  desired  by 
individual  Japanese  nor  allowed  by  their  government. 

Objections  to  Japanese  immigration  and  especially 
to  naturalization  are  raised  also  on  grounds  of  our 
own  incapacity.  It  is  urged,  for  instance,  that 
Americans  do  not  know  how  to  deal  justly  with  any 
people  of  another  color.  The  American  Indians 
and  the  negroes  are  always  cited  in  this  connection. 
It  is  therefore  unwise,  they  urge,  to  admit  the 
Japanese,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  they 
have  behind  them  a  sensitive,  warlike,  aggressive 
people  and  a  strong  government  which  will  surely 
resent  any  injustice  inflicted  by  Americans  on  Japa 
nese  in  this  land.  Moreover,  unlike  other  foreigners, 
"Japanese  insist  on  converting  every  difficulty  in 
which  they  become  involved  into  an  international 
affair."  "Their  sensitiveness  constantly  tends  to 
magnify  the  smallest  provocations  into  international 
issues."  It  is  also  urged  that  free  immigration  will 
be  the  final  issue  of  naturalization.  Once  let  in  the 
earners  nose  and  only  time  will  be  needed  to  see  the 
entire  body  forcing  its  way  in. 


CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM         21 

*  And,  finally,  there  are  those  who  urge  the  mere 
fact  of  race  antipathy  or  prejudice  as  sufficient 
ground  for  Japanese  exclusion.  This,  it  is  said,  is 
a  fact,  and  a  fact  of  great  importance  regardless  of 
the  question  whether  or  not  the  grounds  stated  for 
that  antipathy  are  adequate.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
feelings  precede  judgment.  We  dislike  a  man  or  a 
people  and  then  hunt  for  facts,  or  invent  them,  by 
which  to  justify  that  feeling.  Whether  or  not,  there 
fore,  the  facts  adduced  are  true  or  adequate,  the  fact 
undoubtedly  remains  that  whites  dislike  Japanese. 
This  being  the  case,  it  is  highly  undesirable  to  allow 
them  to  come  to  our  land  as  permanent  residents. 

Such  are  the  main  reasons  urged  by  different 
classes  of  Californians  for  the  exclusion  of  Japanese 
from  this  country  and  in  justification  of  recent  legis 
lation.  Those  who  urge  exclusion  commonly  state 
that  opposition  is  practically  universal.  They  deny 
that  it  is  confined  to  "labor-union"  men  or  to  any 
particular  class.  The  universality  of  the  opposition 
is,  therefore,  urged  as  an  evidence  of  its  validity. 

California's  opposition  to  Japanese  immigration, 
moreover,  is  not  a  sudden  antipathy.  It  is  the  heir 
of  decades  of  antipathy  to  Chinese.  It  has  fre 
quently  found  open,  and  sometimes  violent,  expres 
sion.  Anti-Japanese  legislation  has  on  several  oc 
casions  been  restrained  only  by  the  remonstrance  of 
the  Federal  Government. 


22       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

Yielding  to  the  suggestion  of  President  Roosevelt, 
Japan  entered  upon  the  so-called  "gentlemen's 
agreement"  in  1908,  in  accordance  with  which,  since 
that  date,  passports  to  the  United  States  have  been 
given  to  no  laborers.  During  the  years  from  1909 
to  1912  the  excess  of  departures  over  arrivals,  ac 
cording  to  the  statistics  of  our  immigration  office, 
was  6,664.  Anti-Japanese  Californians,  however, 
are  by  no  means  satisfied.  They  hold  that  this  ar 
rangement  leaves  to  Japan  the  decision  of  a  question 
which  we  should  decide  for  ourselves,  namely,  who 
shall  and  who  shall  not  come  to  our  shores.  They 
say  that  we  need,  therefore,  a  Japanese  exclusion 
law  like  that  which  excludes  Chinese,  and  that  since 
such  an  exclusion  law  would  not  meet  the  difficulty 
created  by  the  presence  of  those  Japanese  now  here, 
steps  should  also  be  taken  to  make  it 'more  and  more 
economically  unprofitable  and  socially  unpleasant 
for  them  to  remain,  thus  inducing  them  ultimately 
to  depart  entirely  from  our  shores. 

In  pursuance  of  this  strong  anti-Japanese  policy 
in  the  recent  session  of  the  California  legislature, 
thirty-four  bills  were  introduced  proposing  to  cur 
tail  and  hamper  in  various  ways  the  industrial  and 
economic  opportunities  of  the  Japanese  in  Cali 
fornia.  The  single  relatively  innocuous  land  bill 
finally  passed  by  no  means  satisfies  anti-Japanese 
agitators.  There  is  every  reason  to  anticipate,  in 
the  next  session  of  the  California  legislature,  bills 


CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM         23 

still  more  drastic  and  still  more  skilfully  devised 
looking  in  the  same  direction.  Unless  some  radical 
change  takes  place,  anti-Japanese  feeling  is  not 
likely  to  be  satisfied  nor  cease  from  aggressive  ac 
tivity  until  the  Japanese  are  practically  driven  out 
of  California  or  sink  to  a  negligible  quantity. 

This  exclusion  policy,  however,  partly  because  of 
its  aim  and  partly,  also,  because  of  the  spirit  and 
the  manner  in  which  it  has  been  carried  on,  is  keenly 
resented  by  the  entire  Japanese  nation.  Japan  feels 
that  such  legislation  is  not  only  in  conflict  with 
established  treaty  rights  but  is  also  a  humiliating 
affront  to  her  dignity  as  one  of  the  sister  nations. 
It  also  contradicts  the  policy  of  mutual  friendship 
solemnly  pledged  by  the  United  States  when  she 
first  knocked  at  the  doors  of  Japan  sixty  years  ago, 
and  in  response  to  which  Japan  opened  those  doors 
which  had  been  closed  to  all  the  nations  for  over  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years. 

The  first  article  of  Japan's  first  treaty  with  a 
foreign  people,  that  with  the  United  States  in  1854, 
is  as  follows:  "  There  shall  be  a  perfect,  permanent, 
and  universal  peace  and  a  sincere  and  cordial  amity 
between  the  United  States  of  America  on  the  one 
part,  and  the  Empire  of  Japan  on  the  other,  and 
between  their  people  respectively,  without  exception 
oiLpersons  and  places." 

Here,  then,  is  a  serious  situation ;  on  the  one  hand, 
California,  conscious  of  an  evil  which  she  believes 


24       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

threatens  to  reach  vast  dimensions  if  not  radically 
and  promptly  dealt  with;  and  on  the  other,  Japan, 
a  nation  with  which  America  secured  and  has  main 
tained  exceptional  relations  of  helpfulness  and  friend 
liness,  deeply  wounded,  yet  earnestly  desiring  the 
maintenance  of  the  historic  friendship  on  a  basis 
of  dignity  and  mutual  profit. 

This,  in  briefest  terms,  is  the  problem  that  de 
mands  an  early  solution,  the  task  that  awaits  wise  co 
operative  statesmanship.  For  it  is  a  difficult,  deli 
cate,  and  intricate  problem.  Both  sides  have  their 
measure  of  truth  and  right.  The  problem  is  how 
to  harmonize  these  real  and  apparently  conflicting 
rights  and  interests.  How  is  it  possible  to  grant 
what  California  so  insistently  and  rightly  demands 
and  at  the  same  time  to  secure  to  Japan  what  she 
demands  with  equal  insistence? 

The  case,  however,  is  not  as  hopeless  as  it  seems. 
If  each  side  can  be  brought  to  recognize  the  difficulty 
which  confronts  the  other  and  will  look  the  whole 
problem  squarely  in  the  face  in  all  its  various 
aspects,  with  readiness  to  learn  new  facts  and  to 
see  that  there  has  been  mutual  misunderstanding, 
some  solution  can  surely  be  found  mutually  satisfac 
tory. 

Japan,  on  the  one  hand,  must  recognize  that  the 
California  contention  rests  both  on  actual  experience 
and  on  well-established  principles  which  cannot  be 
surrendered.  On  the  other  hand,  California  must 


CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM         25 

recognize  that  Japan,  too,  has  a  case  which  rests  on 
well-established  principles. 

From  the  standpoint  of  his  acquaintance  with 
both  California  and  Japan,  the  writer  sees  that  while 
there  is  right  on  both  sides  there  is  also  considerable 
mutual  misunderstanding.  Few  Californians  know 
either  the  Japanese  who  are  here  or  the  nation 
yonder.  This,  however,  is  not  strange  in  view  of  all 
the  circumstances.  Indeed,  anything  else  has  hardly 
been  possible.  And,  in  the  same  way,  both  the 
Japanese  who  are  here  and  those  in  Japan  are,  as  a 
rule,  profoundly  ignorant  in  regard  to  many  impor 
tant  characteristics  of  America  and  of  California. 
But  this,  too,  is  not  strange  in  view  of  all  the  cir 
cumstances. 

The  chief  reason  why  this  problem  is  so  difficult  is 
exactly  this  mutual  ignorance  and  consequent  dis 
like  and  mistrust,  and  the  contention  is  not  without 
reason  that  on  this  ground  alone  should  the  races  be 
kept  strictly  to  their  own  shores.  Such  a  policy, 
however,  is  absolutely  impossible  in  this  stage  of 
the  world's  development  and  it  is,  moreover,  unde 
sirable.  The  East  needs  the  West  and,  unfamiliar 
with  the  thought  though  the  West  may  be,  the 
West  needs  the  East. 

The  true  policy,  accordingly,  is  first  of  all  one  of 
education.  Japan  and  the  Japanese  must  really 
learn  to  understand  America  and  especially  Cali 
fornia.  Those  Japanese  who  come  here  must  make 


26       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

every  effort  to  learn  and  adopt  American  modes  of 
life  and  work.  They  must  seek  to  become  Ameri 
cans.  Calif ornians,  on  the  other  hand,  must  get  rid 
of  mistaken  ideas  with  regard  to  the  Japanese.  They 
must  be  ready  to  learn  the  facts  in  regard  to  that 
people  whose  divergent  evolution  for  thousands  of 
years  has  made  them  so  different  from  us.  This 
difference  is  not  to  be  denied  nor  the  difficulties  that 
arise  from  it  ignored;  but  neither  is  it  to  be  exag 
gerated;  and  special  effort  should  be  taken  not  to 
introduce  imaginary  difficulties,  due  to  a  priori 
theories  of  race  nature  and  non-assimilability. 

So  intricate  and  many-sided  is  the  problem  raised 
by  the  Japanese  in  America  that  it  has  seemed  nec 
essary  to  analyze  its  various  elements  and  aspects 
somewhat  minutely  in  the  following  chapters;  for 
it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  both  Japanese 
and  Americans  should  contemplate  steadily  and 
comprehensively  the  many  factors  involved.  We 
must  take  deep  soundings  in  this  new  ocean  on  which 
the  nations  are  embarked.  The  fundamental  traits 
of  our  respective  civilizations  are  involved  and  must 
be  clearly  recognized  and  widely  proclaimed.  So,  too, 
must  the  general  principles  disclosed  by  the  modern 
sciences  of  biology,  psychology,  and  sociology. 

But  education  is  not  enough.  Something  more  is 
needed.  Both  Japan  and  the  United  States  should 
undertake  definite  activities,  promoting  interna 
tional  good-will  and  more  adequately  adapting  gov- 


CALIFORNIA'S  JAPANESE  PROBLEM         27 

ernmental  machinery  to  the  new  world-situation. 
Suggestions,  however,  on  these  matters  are  deferred 
until  the  entire  situation  has  been  more  carefully 
studied.1 

1  Inasmuch  as  this  volume  has  been  prepared  for  American  read 
ers,  material  calculated  to  help  Japanese  do  their  part  in  the  solu 
tion  of  the  problem  is  excluded  from  this  work,  but  will  be  embodied 
in  a  separate  volume  to  be  published  in  the  Japanese  language. 


CHAPTER  III 

MISUNDERSTANDINGS,  EXPLANATIONS,  AND 
INTERPRETATIONS 

WE  have  stated  at  their  strongest  California's 
objections  to  Japanese  immigration.  We  must  now 
take  up  the  more  difficult  task  of  estimating  the 
accuracy  and  adequacy  of  the  average  American 
judgment  of  Japanese  and  of  Asiatics  generally; 
for  the  nature  of  the  desirable  oriental  policy  will 
depend  on  our  conception  of  the  actual  realities  of 
the  situation  and  also  of  the  capacity  of  Asiatics  to 
become  American. 

In  this  chapter  and  the  next  we  shall  study  the 
assertions  of  Japanese  undesirability  for  economic, 
political,  and  moral  reasons,  deferring  to  later  chap 
ters  the  more  fundamental  problems  of  assimilabil- 
ity.  There  seems  to  be  wide-spread  misunderstand 
ing.  Both  Japanese  and  Chinese  appear  much  less 
undesirable  when  the  actual  facts  are  better  known 
and  their  real  conduct  interpreted  in  the  light  of 
their  history. 

f~~  Japanese  are  regarded  by  many  as  undesirable 
dgrants  on  strictly  economic  grounds. 

These  economic  charges  are  so  persistent  and 

28 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  29 

varied  that  only  an  exact  and  comprehensive  statis 
tical  investigation  suffices  to  show  both  their  truth 
and  their  error.  Fortunately,  the  State  of  California 
itself  has  conducted  such  an  investigation,  an  appro 
priation  of  $10,000  having  been  made  for  this  pur 
pose  in  1909.  Much  to  the  surprise  of  those  who  had 
inside  information,  the  report  proved  unexpectedly 
favorable  to  the  Japanese.  No  appropriation,  how 
ever,  was  made  for  its  publication.  Some  assert 
that  it  was  purposely  suppressed.  We  are,  accord 
ingly,  dependent  for  our  knowledge  of  its  contents 
on  a  brief  "Summary  for  the  Press"  furnished  by 
J.  D.  Mackenzie,  Labor  Commissioner,  May  30, 
1910.1  As  it  is  impossible,  advantageously,  to  con 
dense  further  the  material  there  summarized,  the 
entire  summary  is  reproduced  in  the  Appendix,  to 
which  the  reader  is  asked  to  turn  before  reading 
further. 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  at  the  beginning,  when 
Japanese  immigrants  first  entered  the  labor  market, 
their  wages  were  lower  than  those  of  whites  and  it 
is  quite  likely  that,  in  some  cases,  white  labor  was 
driven  out  by  Japanese.  As  a  rule,  however,  Japa 
nese  took  the  place  of  vanishing  Chinese.  To-day 
there  is  more  work  than  workers,  either  white  or 
brown.  According  to  the  "Summary,"  Japanese 

1  Portions  of  the  statistical  tables  were  subsequently  published 
in  the  Biennial  Reports  for  1911  and  1913  of  the  State  Department 
of  Labor. 


30       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

farm-hands  were  earning,  in  1909,  better  wages  than 
white  men  engaged  in  the  same  work  and,  strange 
to  say,  Japanese  employed  by  Japanese  received 
higher  wages  than  those  employed  by  white  men! 
The  fact  is  that  Japanese  have  proved  their  superior 
fitness  for  certain  kinds  of  farm  work  and  are  conse 
quently  in  large  demand,  whether  employed  by 
Japanese  or  by  white  men.  It  is  doubtless  true 
that  Japanese,  having  learned  from  white  men  suc 
cessful  methods  for  advancing  their  wages  (namely, 
by  strikes),  have  at  times  taken  advantage  of  these 
methods,  especially  when  they  have  observed  the 
helplessness  of  employers.  This  is,  no  doubt,  rep 
rehensible;  but  it  is  a  fault  not  peculiar  to  Jap 
anese,  nor  is  there  reason  for  condemning  it  in 
Japanese  and  extenuating  it  in  the  case  of  other 
races.  But  it  is  also  altogether  probable  that  the 
number  of  such  cases  has  been  largely  exaggerated, 
which  would  be  quite  natural  on  the  part  of  those 
who  have  suffered. 

That  Japanese  ^rkers  are  willing  to  toil  for 
longer  hours  than  the  white  man  and  that  they  put 
up  with  unhygienic  conditions  is  doubtless  true.  In 
Japan  long  hours  of  toil  are  the  rule,  from  sunrise 
to  sundown  on  the  farms,  and  in  small  shops  and 
factories  from  five  or  six  in  the  morning  till  nine 
or  ten  or  even  eleven  at  night.  It  would  not  be 
strange,  therefore,  if,  in  their  relative  poverty  and 
ambition  to  acquire  a  competence  as  soon  as  possi- 


v& 


KH 


j=  =  =-~; 

"S'ffi  o^' 

fl-sJ:  a 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  31 

ble,  Japanese  in  America  should  readily  accept  the 
hours  of  labor  usual  in  Japan. 

That  a  workman,  moreover,  should  have  the  right 
to  demand  wholesome  conditions  of  labor  was  a 
thought  almost  unknown  to  Japanese  in  their  native 
land  until  modern  times.  This  is  an  idea  purely 
Western  and  modern  at  that.  And  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  the  average  Japanese  laborer  has  as  yet  little 
idea  as  to  what  conditions  are  hygienic.  Such 
knowledge  is,  indeed,  a  modern  acquisition  even  in 
America. 

Now,  the  readiness  of  Japanese  to  work  long  hours 
and  in  unhygienic  conditions  does  raise  a  serious 
question ;  for  unscrupulous  employers,  both  Japanese 
and  American,  can  take  advantage  of  this  willingness 
and  thereby  put  the  white  laborer  at  an  economic 
disadvantage.  Surely  no  American  desires  to  see  a 
white  man  forced  to  labor  according  to  the  stand 
ard  of  Asiatics  in  Asia  nor  even  to  see  an  Asiatic  here 
so  laboring.  Does  not  the  solution  of  this  question, 
however,  consist  in  the  enactment  and  enforcement 
of  stringent  legislation  in  regard  to  these  matters, 
so  that  no  one,  Asiatic  or  American,  shall  be  allowed 
to  labor  longer  than  the  legal  number  of  hours  per 
day  or  under  unhygienic  conditions?  In  other 
words,  laws  can  be  passed  which  shall  prevent 
Asiatic  competition  from  forcing  down,  in  the  ways 
indicated,  the  wages  of  white  workmen  and  their 
scale  of  living. 


32       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

As  for  the  charge  that  Japanese  farm  labor  com 
petes  successfully  with  white  labor  in  raising  certain 
specific  kinds  of  crops,  the  charge  appears  to  be  well 
substantiated  by  facts.  But  instead  of  reaching  the 
conclusion  that  Japanese  are  driving  white  labor  out 
and  should;  therefore,  be  excluded  from  the  country, 
careful  examination  shows  that  to  a  large  degree 
the  Japanese  worker  is  fitting  himself  well  into  our 
agricultural  system.  Japanese  have  largely  taken 
the  place  of  Chinese  in  farm  labor;  they  have  also 
made  possible  developments  in  berry,  lettuce,  celery, 
and  kindred  crops,  which  white  labor  alone  would 
never  have  allowed.  In  point  of  fact,  as  a  whole 
they  are  developing  uncultivated  lands  and  carrying  i 
on  forms  of  agriculture  which  would  remain  largely 
undeveloped  if  left  to  the  whites.  The  investiga 
tions  of  the  Immigration  Commission,  no  less  than 
those  of  the  Special  State  Investigation  of  1909, 
have  proved  these  matters  conclusively  for  those 
who  are  willing  to  take  the  time  for  the  study  of  the 
elaborate  reports  of  these  commissions. 

It  is  no  discredit,  moreover,  to  the  Japanese  that 
he  is  thrifty  and  enterprising,  that  he  wishes  to  rise 
from  the  status  of  a  dependent  day-laborer  to  one 
of  independence,  himself  employing  labor.  This,  so 
far  from  being  a  disqualification,  rather  proves  his 
fitness  to  become  an  American  citizen.  We  want  \ 
industrious,  ambitious,  and  enterprising  laborers. 

Only  partly  true  is  the  charge  that  Japanese  fail 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  33 

to  keep  up  property  leased  or  bought.  It  may  be 
brought  equally  against  all  immigrants,  whatever 
their  race.  Moreover,  the  reason  in  the  case  of 
leased  property  is  not  hard  to  find.  Who  would 
expend  considerable  sums  of  money  on  the  up-keep 
or  appearance  of  houses  or  lots  whose  lease  runs  only 
a  year,  or  two,  or  three?  This,  however,  is  the  con 
dition  of  most  of  the  property  occupied  by  Japanese. 
They  contemplate  only  temporary  occupancy.  And 
it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  the  amount  of  property 
owned  by  Japanese  is  still  very  small.  The  main 
reason,  then,  why  property  occupied  by  them  is  run 
down  is  because  the  American  owners  themselves 
are  not  willing  to  expend  the  amounts  necessary  for 
its  up-keep. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  up-keep  of  those  pieces  of 
property  which  have  come  into  complete  Japanese 
ownership,  and  where  the  owner  has  also  financial 
ability,  is  all  that  can  be  asked.  Many  concrete 
cases  could  easily  be  cited  in  Oakland,  Los  Angeles, 
and  elsewhere. 

But  another  consideration  should  not  be  over 
looked  in  this  connection.  On  account  of  Cali 
fornia's  treatment  of  Japanese  for  many  years,  there 
is  a  sense  of  insecurity  among  them.  They  do  not 
know  how  long  they  will  be  allowed  to  remain.  One 
Japanese  replied  to  my  question  that  he  was  expect 
ing  to  stay  here  all  his  life  unless  "persecution  should 
arise."  The  very  refusal,  then,  of  California  to  give 


34      THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM          i 

Japanese  welcome  and  citizenship  may  be  regarded 
as  one  of  the  contributing  causes  for  that  appear 
ance  of  property  which  is  the  object  of  this  criticism. 

Not  otherwise  is  it  in  regard  to  the  appearance  of 
farming  districts  leased  or  owned  by  Japanese.  The 
neglect  of  tenant  farms  is  notorious  the  world  over. 
Old  and  New  England  are  quite  familiar  with  it. 
Charges  on  this  score,  therefore,  have  no  special 
weight  as  reflecting  on  Japanese  racial  character. 
On  the  contrary,  the  appearance  of  those  farms  which 
they  own,  in  fee  simple,  indicates  that  they  are  ex 
ceptionally  good  and  desirable  farmers. 

That  Japanese  employers  hire  only  Japanese  la 
borers  is  not  strictly  true.  Mr.  Shima,  for  instance, 
the  "Potato  King"  of  California,  employs  whites 
for  certain  kinds  of  work.  But,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  Japanese  farmers  have  taken  up  those  forms  of 
farming  for  which  they  are  especially  adapted,  it  is 
altogether  natural  that  they  should  employ  Japa 
nese  rather  than  whites  who  are  not  fitted  for  it,  espe 
cially  when  whites  are  not  to  be  had — even  by  white 
employers!  And  what  more  natural  than  that  Jap 
anese  employers  should  employ  Japanese  laborers, 
whom  they  can  understand  and  talk  with  freely, 
rather  than  white  laborers,  whom  they  can  neither 
understand  nor  talk  to!  Anti-Japanese  criticism  of 
this  kind  is  surely  captious. 

The  statement  that  whites  move  out  when  any 
considerable  number  of  Japanese  move  into  a  sec- 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  35 

tion  of  a  town  or  township  seems  to  be  partly,  though 
not  universally,  true.  It  is  not  unnatural,  however, 
for  the  language,  customs,  and  life  of  the  newcomers 
are  strange,  not  to  say  disagreeable,  and  it  is  not 
unreasonable  for  the  white  to  prefer  that  his  children 
shall  not  associate  closely  with  the  stranger. 

But  we  would  emphasize  the  point  that  similar 
temporary  consequences  have  followed  from  the  im 
migration  of  any  nationality  into  the  United  States 
— Italian,  Portuguese,  Russian,  French,  Hebrew, 
Canadian,  and  others.  Many  places,  not  only  in 
New  England  and  New  York  but  also  in  the  Central 
States,  have  had  exactly  the  same  experience.  The 
difficulty  in  this  case,  therefore,  is  not  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  immigrants  are  Japanese  but  only  to 
the  fact  that  the  Japanese  are  immigrants. 

As  for  Japanese  clannishness,  this  is  beyond  dis 
pute  ;  but  so,  too,  is  the  clannishness  of  immigrants 
from  any  land — Greeks,  Italians,  Poles,  Jews,  yes, 
and  even  Scotch,  Irish,  and  Welsh.  We  would,  in 
deed,  think  the  worse  of  them  if  they  did  not  have  a 
fellow-feeling  and  seek  to  help  each  other.  But,  of 
course,  that  degree  of  clannishness  must  be  frowned 
on  which  leads  any  national  group  to  take  unfair 
advantage  of  others.  That  there  is  none  of  this 
among  Japanese  is  not  asserted;  neither  do  we  deny 
its  reprehensible  character.  But  we  do  contend 
that  our  own  offish,  not  to  say  clannish,  treatment 
of  the  Japanese  promotes  rather  than  diminishes 


36       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

it,  and  also  that  with  proper  treatment  of  Japanese 
immigrants  on  our  part  this  trait  will  be  overcome, 
as  has  been  the  case  with  immigrants  from  other 
lands. 

Critics  contrast  Japanese  labor  with  Chinese,  and 
in  favor  of  the  latter  on  the  ground  that  the  China 
man  comes  to  the  ranch  when  he  is  wanted,  does 
the  work  required,  and  then  disappears  from  the 
district  and  gives  no  trouble.  From  the  standpoint 
of  capitalism  this  is,  of  course,  ideal.  The  laborer 
is  a  "perfect  machine."  The  employer  has  no  care 
or  responsibility  for  and  no  human  relationship  with 
him.  There  is  no  social  contact,  no  danger  of  en 
tangling  social  inconvenience.  An  unlimited  supply 
of  just  such  labor  would  please  large  farming  inter 
ests;  they  could  raise  enormous  crops  and  realize 
enormous  profits  with  a  minimum  of  human  respon 
sibility.  But  such  conditions  would  produce  a  small 
class  of  great  wealth  and  leisure,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  a  large  class  of  servile  labor  on  the  other,  ever 
kept  in  economic  servitude  and  dependence.  This, 
however,  is  a  situation  exactly  contrary  to  the  Amer 
ican  ideal. 

The  Japanese,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not  content 
to  remain  a  servile  laborer — a  mere  machine.  He 
wishes  to  own  the  soil,  cultivate  it  to  its  maximum, 
secure  the  full  earnings  of  his  labor  and  capital,  and 
develop  himself  and  his  family  to  the  extent  of  his 
ability.  A  majority  of  Japanese  farms  in  California 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  37 

are  small,  requiring  for  their  entire  care  the  work  of 
only  the  owner  and  his  family,  with  occasional  out 
side  help.  This  means  intensive  cultivation  and  the 
maintenance,  per  acreage,  of  a  relatively  large  per 
manent  population  of  independent  families. 

This,  however,  is  far  more  in  accord  with  our 
American  ideal  than  with  the  capitalistic  ideal.  Of 
course,  this  would  break  up  the  large  ranches,  enor 
mous  estates,  and  princely  mansions,  whose  owners 
luxuriously  travel  round  the  world  in  private  yachts 
and  automobiles,  employing  agents  to  run  their 
ranches.  But  that  is  exactly  what  needs  to  be  broken -^ 
up  if  America  is  to  be  thoroughly  democratic.  If 
our  whites  are  willing  to  learn,  the  Japanese  can 
teach  them  intensive  farming  and  can  show  them 
how  a  family  can  own  and  cultivate  and  make  a 
respectable  living  out  of  a  small  tract  of  land.  In 
comparison  with  the  factory  hand  or  city  laborer, 
such  a  family  is  to  be  congratulated. 

From  the  writer's  standpoint,  accordingly,  this 
criticism  of  the  Japanese  is  entirely  a  mistake.  The 
characteristic  objected  to  is  one  of  the  important 
proofs  that  the  Japanese,  in  regard  to  this  point  at 
least,  make  desirable  workers  and  would  become 
excellent  citizens.  The  more  we  have  of  just  such 
independent  labor,  the  more  wholesome  will  be  the 
agricultural  development  of  America.  One  great 
bane  of  our  entire  business  and  agricultural  effort 
is  that  the  few  who  own  the  capital  or  the  land  wish 


38       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

so  to  hold  it  that  labor  shall  create  large  profits  of 
which  the  owner  shall  take  the  major  part.  The 
Japanese  farm  laborer  does  not  fall  in  with  this 
capitalistic  ideal;  he  fights  it;  he  buys  where  he  can 
or  leases  the  land;  this  makes  him  a  promising  agri 
culturalist,  one  whose  coming  to  the  State  might 
well  be  promoted  and  whose  acquisition  of  suitable 
tracts  of  homestead  land  might  wisely  be  aided.  But 
it,  of  course,  follows  that  he  is  criticised  and  opposed 
by  capital,  which  does  not  like  his  ways.  He  is  not 
an  "ideal  labor  machine"  like  the  Chinese.  From 
the  writer's  standpoint,  however,  in  this  respect  he  • 
far  surpasses  the  Chinese. 

That  "Japanese  do  not  make  good  citizens"  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  seeing  that  we  strictly  pre 
vent  their  acquisition  of  citizenship.  We  deliber 
ately  hold  them  off.  We  say  to  them  that  we  do 
not  want  them  in  our  body  politic,  however  they 
may  qualify.  We  inflict  upon  them  many  an  insult, 
not  officially,  of  course,  but  through  the  spirit  which 
we  impart  to  our  young  people  and  the  lawlessness 
which  we  do  not  repress;  we  make  the  entire  body 
of  Japanese  in  California  feel  keenly  that  they  are 
offensive  to  us;  we  only  tolerate  their  presence;  and 
then  we  criticise  them  for  not  making  good  citizens! 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  they  do  not  take  interest  in 
the  localities  in  which  they  live  or  seek  to  enter  into 
its  community  life?  To  do  so,  they  feel,  would  be 
intrusion.  They,  accordingly,  deliberately  live  to 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  39 

themselves,  seeking  complete  social  satisfaction  in 
their  own  little  communities. 

This  criticism,  also,  is  highly  captious,  indicative 
of  little  reasoning,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  sheer  race 
prejudice  on  the  other.  From  my  acquaintance 
with  the  people  I  am  persuaded  that  if  the  Japanese 
were  given  a  chance  they  would  prove  themselves 
splendid  citizens  alike  in  local,  in  State,  and  in 
national  affairs. 

Statistics  prove  that  they  have  a  relatively  high 
degree  of  literary  and  financial  ability,  and  a  very 
small  proportion  of  criminals  and  paupers;  they  help 
one  another  generously.  They  are  ambitious  to  learn 
themselves  and  desire  that  their  children  should  se 
cure  good  education.  In  all  these  respects,  they  are 
good  residents  and  would  make  excellent  citizens. 

Critics  of  Japanese  in  California  should  ever  bear 
in  mind  two  facts:  first,  that  they  are  recent  comers 
to  our  country,  and,  second,  that  most  of  the  defects 
for  which  they  are  criticised,  even  though  real,  are 
equally  real  of  labor  immigrants  from  any  country 
in  Europe. 

The  subject  of  Japanese  business  morality  is  one 
of  special  difficulty.  Wholesale  condemnation  is 
easy,  but,  as  a  rule,  highly  unjust.  For  a  real  under 
standing  of  Japanese  moral  character  and  life,  many 
factors  must  be  considered;  yet  the  ordinary  Ameri 
can  has  not  the  patience  to  consider  them.  To  him 
the  matter  appears  so  simple  that  any  effort  at  ex- 


40       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

planation  seems  like  quibbling.  A  lie,  he  says,  is  a 
lie;  stealing  is  stealing;  failure  to  keep  one's  prom 
ises  or  to  carry  out  a  contract  is  a  flat  moral  fail 
ure;  explanation  only  makes  matters  worse. 

It  is  nevertheless  true  that  many  facts  should  be 
known  by  one  who  would  really  understand  the 
Japanese  either  here  or  in  Japan.  Whoever  will 
patiently  and  sympathetically  study  these  problems 
from  the  standpoint  of  Japanese  social,  economic, 
and  political  history  will  find  many  important  illu 
minating  factors. 

In  the  first  place,  Americans  need  to  appreciate 
the  fact  that  in  regard  to  this  matter  as  well  as  others 
there  is  much  exaggeration.  Sweeping  generaliza 
tions  of  brilliant  imaginative  writers  please  the  read 
ers  and  remain  in  their  memory.  A  story,  for  in 
stance,  is  widely  current  that  Japanese  are  so 
untrustworthy  in  financial  matters  that  all  banks  in 
Japan  employ  Chinese  cashiers;  some  go  so  far  as  to 
say  that  all  important  bank  offices  are  filled  by 
Chinese!  The  fact  is  that  no  Japanese  bank  dealing 
exclusively  with  Japanese  has  a  single  Chinese  em 
ployee  of  any  kind.  Banks  in  Yokohama,  Kobe,  and 
Nagasaki,  where  there  are  large  Chinese  populations, 
have  Chinese  clerks — especially  banks  whose  head 
offices  are  in  China,  such  as  the  Hongkong  and  Shang 
hai  Banking  Corporation.  But,  as  a  rule,  these  are 
foreign,  not  Japanese  banks.  For  twenty-five  years 
I  have  dealt  with  Japanese  banks  in  several  interior 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  41 

cities  and  have  never  seen  a  Chinese  clerk.  Wide 
inquiry  among  bankers  confirms  my  own  experience. 
Yet  travellers,  seeing  Chinese  clerks  or  cashiers  in 
one  or  two  banks  in  Kobe  and  Yokohama,  gener 
alize  their  experience  and  assert  the  slander  as  to 
Japanese  business  untrustworthiness,  basing  the  as 
sertion  on  "personal  knowledge." 

Another  popular  instance  of  extraordinary  exag 
geration  regarding  Japanese  banking  morality  is 
cited  by  Mr.  W.  V.  Woehlke  in  his  brilliant  but 
fallacious  article  in  The  Outlook,  May  10,  1913. 
Speaking  of  Japanese  business  success,  he  asserts 
that  a  large  measure  of  it  was  "due  to  the  low  stand 
ard  of  business  ethics  that  is  a  distinguishing  mark 
of  many  of  the  Japanese.  ...  In  the  Spring  of  1909 
for  instance,  twenty  Japanese  banks  [in  California] 
accepted  deposits  from  white  and  yellow  men.  At 
the  end  of  the  year  all  but  three  were  closed,  and  ex 
aminations  of  the  wrecked  institutions  revealed  that 
they  had  been  plundered  by  every  trick  and  device 
known  to  the  shrewdest  and  crookedest  promoter. 
Simultaneously  with  the  downfall  of  the  banks  scores 
of  Japanese  merchants,  individuals  and  firms,  hast 
ened  to  the  referee  in  bankruptcy,  thus  forestalling 
any  attempt  to  force  repayment  of  loans  made 
to  them  by  friendly  directors  of  the  defunct 
banks." 

This  statement  by  Mr.  Woehlke  was  so  definite 
that  I  took  pains  to  investigate  the  facts.  I  learned 


42       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

from  the  State  banking  department  of  California 
that  there  never  had  been  more  than  seven  Japanese 
banks  in  California,  of  which  three  are  still  doing 
business,  the  Yokohama  Specie  Bank,  having  an 
annual  business  of  $2,073,086  (June  14,  1912),  the 
Nippon  Bank  ($94,244),  and  the  Industrial  Bank 
of  Fresno  ($49,594).  "The  Kawakami  Brothers 
Bank  went  out  of  business  some  months  ago  paying 
its  depositors  in  full.  The  remaining  three  banks 
were  closed  by  the  Superintendent  of  Banks  in  the 
year  1909  and  are  still  in  his  hands  for  purposes  of 
liquidation/' 

With  the  president  of  one  of  the  unfortunate 
banks  I  became  personally  and  favorably  acquainted. 
Desiring  to  help  his  fellow  countrymen,  he  made,  it 
seems,  more  loans  than  the  hard  times  warranted. 
No  one,  I  was  assured  by  competent  Americans,  ever 
regarded  the  bankruptcy  as  due  to  fraud.  In  regard 
to  the  other  two  banks  I  was  told  that  the  real  cause 
of  failure  was  the  special  exigencies  of  the  season, 
causing  several  American  banks  also  to  fail  at  the 
same  time. 

I  made  special  inquiry  at  Sacramento,  which  is  the 
centre  of  a  considerable  Japanese  population  and 
where  one  of  the  three  successful  Japanese  banks  is 
located.  I  was  told  by  Mr.  A.  Bonnheim,  of  the 
Sacramento  Valley  Banking  Company,  that  they 
did  business  with  many  Japanese  and  on  the  same 
basis  as  with  Americans.  I  asked  if  they  could  trust 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  43 

Japanese  as  well  as  Americans.  The  reply  instantly 
made  was:  "We  trust  nobody."  Mr.  F.  W.  Kes- 
sel,  of  the  California  National  Bank  of  Sacramento , 
made  practically  the  same  replies. 

These  stories  about  Japanese  banks  in  Japan  and 
in  California  show  how  reckless,  or  at  least  careless, 
anti-Japanese  writers  often  are  when  describing 
Japanese  character.  Their  antipathy  leads  them  to 
believe  eveiy  evil  suggestion.  When  I  first  began 
to  read  on  the  Japanese  situation  in  California  I 
accepted  as  trustworthy  the  statements  of  mani 
festly  able  writers.  Investigation  of  many  specific 
assertions,  however,  has  led  me  to  put  a  question- 
mark  against  every  anti-Japanese  statement  which  I 
have  not  myself  verified.  Race  prejudice  seems  to 
rob  even  able  writers  of  the  ability  to  distinguish 
fact  from  fiction.  Their  very  ability  in  framing 
brilliant  sentences  and  striking  antitheses  aggravates 
their  unreliability. 

How  many  detractors  of  Japan  ever  knew  that 
in  old  Japan  there  were  private  banking-houses 
which  issued  large  amounts  of  paper  money  on  their 
own  credit,  which  paper  circulated  widely?  This 
single  fact  shows  how  baseless  are  the  stories  assert 
ing  absolute  lack  of  business  morality  among  all 
Japanese. 

While  in  California  I  tried  in  various  ways  to 
find  facts  in  regard  to  the  credit  allowed  Japanese 
by  American  merchants,  with  the  following  results: 


44       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

Large  Japanese  merchants  receive  treatment  and 
credit  like  that  accorded  Americans;  but  wide-spread 
distrust  is  felt  of  small  merchants  and  individuals 
who  lack  social  standing. 

A  wrapping-paper  dealer,  having  business  over  the 
whole  Pacific  coast,  furnished  me  with  the  following 
facts  out  of  his  own  experience  of  over  twenty  years : 
Sixteen  Japanese  firms  have  practically  unlimited 
credit.  About  one  hundred  firms  are  allowed  a 
monthly  credit  not  to  exceed  $30;  they  are,  how 
ever,  carefully  watched.  Loss  has  been  incurred  in 
the  case  of  nearly  four  hundred  Japanese  firms, 
the  amounts  seldom  running  over  $15.  Japanese 
firms  have  to  be  thoroughly  vouched  for  before  any 
credit  is  given  "  because  they  almost  invariably  try  to 
beat  us.  ...  There  are  some  Japanese  whom  we 
can  trust  absolutely,  not  only  for  their  own  credit 
but  for  information  regarding  prospective  custom 
ers.  .  .  .  We  never  lose  on  a  Chinaman."  I  judge 
that  here  as  in  Japan  many  small  merchants  and 
private  individuals  still  have  little  sense  of  "business 
honor"  and  fail  to  appreciate  the  moral  character  of 
financial  relations  and  obligations. 

As  throwing  light  on  Japanese  character  and  busi 
ness  ideals,  consider  also  the  following  facts: 

In  old  Japan,  money  and  all  money  relations  were 
despised.  Merchants  belonged  to  the  lowest  class, 
farmers  and  artisans  ranking  above  them.  Sons  of 
Samurai  or  Bushi  (warriors)  were  taught  to  have  no 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  45 

financial  dealings  whatever.  Bushido  (the  Way  of 
the  Warrior)  scornett'feusiness;  many  Samurai  schools 
refused. to  teach  mathematics  on  the  ground  that 
only  inerchants  needed  such  knowledge.  Even  to 
this  day  talk  about  money  is  regarded  as  vulgar. 
Many  a  man  is  engaged  and  enters  on  a  new  position 
without  hearing  or  uttering  a  single  word  as  to  the 
amount  of  his  salary.  Japanese,  in  giving  fees  in 
hotels  and  elsewhere,  always  wrap  the  money  in 
white  (i.  e.,  ceremonial)  paper  in  order  that  the 
money  aspect  may  not  appear. 

Of  course  these  customs  and  ideals  of  old  Japan 
are  passing  away.  Commerce  is  no  longer  despised. 
Successful  merchants  take  high  rank  in  society. 
Commercial  morality  is  being  rapidly  developed. 
The  moral  obligation  adhering  to  contracts  and 
promises  is  beginning  to  be  widely  recognized  and 
emphasized.  The  entire  Japanese  people  have  en 
tered  on  a  new  development  of  moral  life  because  of 
their  new  social,  industrial,  and  commercial  activi 
ties  and  organization. 

But  the  old  scorn  of  money  is  not  yet  lost.  Five 
years  ago  one  of  the  members  of  the  San  Francisco 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  on  that  famous  official  visit 
to  Japan,  thought  he  would  have  some  fun  with  a 
group  of  schoolboys  twelve  to  fourteen  years  of  age 
as  they  came  out  of  school.  As  they  were  looking 
at  him  intently,  he  put  his  hand  into  his  pocket  and 
drew  out  a  fistful  of  coins  which  he  threw  on  the 


46       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

ground  expecting  the  boys  to  scramble  for  them. 
To  his  amazement  the  boys  looked  at  him  in  disdain 
and  all  marched  off,  not  one  stooping  to  pick  up  a 
single  coin.  Such  an  experience  could  be  repeated 
in  every  school  in  Japan. 

But  in  order  to  understand  the  average  Japanese 
attitude  to  the  numberless  details  of  daily  life,  their 
temperament,  social  habits,  and  mental  and  moral 
character,  the  nature  of  Japanese  feudalism  should 
be  known  and  appreciated. 

We  all  know  that  Japan  maintained  the  feudal 
system  for  a  thousand  years  and  carried  it  out  more 
completely  than  any  other  land.  It  is  but  forty 
years  since  she  adopted  modern  forms  of  social  or 
ganization.  Now,  a  feudal  society  develops  forms 
of  moral  life  quite  distinct  from  those  essential  to 
a  commercial  and  industrial  society.  The  warrior 
is  supreme;  courage  and  loyalty,  the  virtues  of 
the  warrior,  are  highly  developed.  Hence  came  the 
far-famed  Bushido,  the  "Way  [do]  of  the  Warrior 
[bushi]."  Throughout  society  the  superior  and  in 
ferior  are  definite  relations  and  demand  definite  types 
of  conduct  and  ideals  of  right  and  wrong.  In  Japa 
nese  feudalism  politeness  rose  to  a  position  of  esteem 
equal  to  that  of  courage.  It  controlled  the  relations 
not  only  of  equals  but  of  all  the  classes.  Superiors 
were  required  to  speak  to  and  deal  with  inferiors  in 
definite  forms  of  politeness..  The  courteous  treatment 
of  inferiors  by  superiors  is  one  of  the  unique  features 


l| 


.5 


II 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  47 

of  Japan  to  this  day.  The  delicate  courtesy  of  chil 
dren  to  each  other  is  amazing.  Feudal  politeness  be 
came  one  of  the  first  social  requirements.  It  dom 
inated  the  language  to  such  an  extraordinary  extent 
that  even  the  grammatical  structure  was  affected. 
In  place  of  personal  pronouns,  honorific  particles 
were  developed  and  universally  used,  and  nouns  and 
verbs  of  varying  degrees  of  honor  or  dishonor  served 
delicately  to  indicate  the  person  intended,  you  or 
he,  your  relative  or  his  or  mine.  This  universal 
social  custom  was  most  strictly  enforced.  Many  a 
brave  man  lost  his  head  merely  because  he  was 
rude. 

A  necessary  result  of  this  universal  social  habit 
has  been  the  development  of  what  seems  almost 
like  an  instinct  to  say  the  pleasant  thing  to  the  per 
son  addressed.  More  important  than  the  making  of 
verbally  accurate  statements  was  that  of  pleasing. 
This  became  a  national  characteristic  and  still  pow 
erfully  affects  the  entire  life  of  the  nation.  Japanese 
in  conversation  know  how  to  make  allowances  for 
this  habit  and  are  not,  in  fact,  deceived  thereby.  The 
one  who  speaks  has  no  intention  of  deceiving,  and  he 
who  hears  knows  that  he  must  judge  of  that  which 
he  really  wishes  to  know  by  other  signs  than  those 
of  the  words  actually  uttered. 

Of  course,  it  is  not  contended  here  that  Japanese 
never  deliberately  deceive  nor  tell  conscious  false 
hoods.  I  doubt  not  that  in  this  matter  Japan  is 


48       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

about  as  other  lands.  But  I  do  contend  that  the 
effect  of  Japanese  feudalism  was  to  develop  habits 
of  speech  and  of  social  relations  which  put  politeness 
and  pleasant  manners  above  verbal  accuracy,  and 
that  this  was  so  allowed  for  that  there  was  no  decep 
tion.  It  often  happens  in  the  extraordinarily  intri 
cate  social  life  of  Japan  that  a  man  may  verbally 
say  the  exact  opposite  of  what  he  means  and  intends 
to  convey,  and  the  hearer  fully  understands  both 
what  is  said  and  what  is  meant.  Only  the  un 
sophisticated  foreigner,  who  depends  exclusively  on 
the  words,  misunderstands  the  meaning. 

Now,  when  Japanese  come  to  this  land,  quite  igno 
rant  of  our  customs  and  of  the  stress  we  lay  on  verbal 
truth  and  the  sacredness  of  the  spoken  word,  is  it 
strange  that  they  say  the  pleasant  "yes"  when  in 
their  hearts  they  may  mean  the  unpleasant  "no"? 
Let  us  remember,  too,  that  there  is  in  Japanese  no 
word  meaning  exactly  "yes."  The  word  usually 
translated  "yes"  really  means,  "I  am  paying  atten 
tion"  or  "I  hear  what  you  say."  The  intonations 
and  varying  import  of  that  word  differ  more  than  do 
our  intonations  of  "yes." 

Just  here  another  feature  of  old  Japan  must  be 
grasped;  namely,  her  lack  of  time-consciousness. 
Formerly  clocks  were  practically  unknown.  There 
was  only  the  vaguest  measurement  of  time.  Meet 
ings  began  when  people  assembled,  and  lasted  in 
terminable  hours.  But  a  change  has  come.  Rail- 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  49 

roads,  schools,  army  and  navy,  clocks  and  watches 
are  now  beginning  to  impress  on  considerable  por 
tions  of  the  rising  generation  the  significance  of  time 
and  the  importance  of  speaking  and  acting  accurately 
in  regard  to  it. 

I  am,  indeed,  persuaded  that  the  Japanese  reputa 
tion  for  making  and  breaking  promises  is  in  part 
due  to  their  relatively  undeveloped  consciousness 
of  time.  The  average  Japanese  workman,  desiring 
to  please,  easily  promises  to  have  a  certain  job  done 
at  the  time  requested  by  the  white  man,  who  puts 
much  emphasis  on  the  time  element;  the  Japanese 
does  not;  he  himself  feels  no  such  emphasis,  hence  his 
failure  to  keep  his  word  and  the  consequent  disgust 
on  the  part  of  the  white  man  who  soon  discredits  all 
the  moral  characteristics  of  a  people  who  so  fre 
quently  fail  to  keep  their  promises. 

In  point  of  fact  this  time-consciousness  has  reached 
an  extraordinary  development  among  Anglo-Saxons 
and  Teutonic  peoples,  due,  of  course,  to  their  modern, 
highly  intricate  civilization,  in  which  machinery  plays 
so  important  a  part  (everybody  has  a  clock  or  a 
watch),  while  among  Latin  and  Latin- American  peo 
ples,  it  is  still  largely  undeveloped,  resulting  in  sub 
stantially  the  same  phenomena  in  custom  and  speech 
as  in  Japan.  Spanish  and  South  American  indiffer 
ence  to  time  limitations  and  time  promises  is  notori 
ous.  Americans  abroad  must  adjust  themselves  to 
this  characteristic  of  foreign  peoples,  but  foreigners 


50       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

working  in  America  must  learn  to  know  and  follow 
the  American  habit  in  this  regard. 

The  fact  is  that  Japanese  have  undergone  what 
is  from  our  standpoint  an  unbalanced  development. 
In  certain  ways  they  are  highly  developed,  in  others 
they  are  still  children.  The  effect  of  many  cen 
turies  of  feudalism  has  been  to  develop  certain  traits 
and  to  leave  others  quite  undeveloped.  No  doubt, 
we  in  turn  seem  the  same  to  them. 

Without  entering  into  the  whole  question  of  Jap 
anese  and  American  moral  ideals,  it  is  germane  to  our 
discussion  to  point  out  that,  while  occidental  mo 
rality  emphasizes  fidelity  to  abstract  truth  and  to 
rational  and  moral  principles,  Japanese  morality 
emphasizes  fidelity  to  persons  in  their  respective 
relations  of  superior  and  inferior.  In  the  feudal 
system  each  man  had  his  fixed  place  in  the  family 
and  clan,  which  relation  determined  automatically 
the  treatment  he  owed  to  those  above,  around, 
and  below  him,  and  also  theirs  to  him.  Moral 
life  consisted  in  fulfilling  those  duties  of  right  treat 
ment  of  individuals  according  to  their  respective 
stations. 

In  the  West,  on  the  other  hand,  where  the  indus 
trial  and  commercial  social  order  dominates  and 
men's  relations  are  largely  fixed  by  mutual  agree 
ments  as  to  financial  matters  by  promises  and  con 
tracts,  morality  consists  in  faithful  fulfilment  of 
these  contracts.  We  do  not  absolutely  neglect  the 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  51 

personal  relationship,  but  we  emphasize  the  contract 
relationship. 

For  instance,  we  do  not  think  an  employer  par 
ticularly  immoral  who  gets  angry  with  his  workmen 
and  scolds  them,  especially  if  they  are  negligent  or 
lazy,  though  we  do  not  justify  him  if  he  loses  con 
trol  of  himself  to  the  degree  of  striking  an  offending 
workman.  Yet  even  this  we  sometimes  regard  as 
justified  by  stupidity  or  insolence.  Provided  the 
employer  pays  his  men  the  standard  wages  and 
keeps  his  promises  and  contracts,  we  regard  him  -as 
a  pretty  good  member  of  society. 

Not  so  the  Japanese.  ^Perfect  courtesy  is  the  first 
sign  of  a  good  man;  he  must  control  his  tongue  and 
his  temper  and  be  polite,  however  he  may  feel  within. 
Sexual  laxity,  petty  lies,  and  even  business  deception, 
are  light  faults  compared  with  impolite,  intemperate 
speech  and  uncontrolled  wrath. 

This  difference  of  moral  ideals  is  the  cause  of  many 
mutual  misunderstandings  and  difficulties. 


CHAPTER  IV 

MISUNDERSTANDINGS,  EXPLANATIONS,  AND 
INTERPRETATIONS  (CONTINUED) 

IN  comparison  with  Chinese  and  European  do 
mestics,  the  number  of  Japanese  is  certainly  large 
who  have  disappointed  their  employers  by  suddenly 
leaving  without  notice  and  oftentimes  under  exas 
perating  circumstances.  Chinese,  it  seems,  take 
pains  to  provide  a  substitute;  Japanese  rarely. 
Nevertheless,  the  alleged  frequency  has  been  enor 
mously  exaggerated.  Many  housekeepers  have  de 
scribed  with  beaming  faces  the  fidelity,  length  of 
service,  efficiency,  and  courtesy  of  their  Japanese 
domestics,  whom  they  prefer  to  those  of  any  other 
race. 

Much  light,  however,  is  thrown  on  this  exasper 
ating  conduct  of  many  Japanese  domestics  by  the 
social  character  and  emotional  temperament  of 
Japanese. 

Most  of  the  young  men  who  enter  domestic  ser 
vice  in  America  do  not  belong  to  the  servant  class 
in  Japan.  They  are,  as  a  rule,  ambitious  and  ad 
venturous  young  fellows,  seeking  an  education  or 
opportunity  for  advancement.  Many  of  them  are 

52 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  53 

the  sons  of  high-spirited  Samurai.  To  expect  them 
to  make  good  "servants,"  year  in  and  year  out,  like 
Chinese  of  the  servant  class  or  like  negroes,  is  quite 
unreasonable.  Domestic  service  is  for  them  but  a 
temporary  makeshift.  Moreover,  such  young  men, 
inherently  proud  and  self-respecting,  instinctively 
resent  such  treatment  as  servants  commonly  re 
ceive  in  the  West.  American  families  where  a  ser 
vant  is  treated  and  spoken  to  as  a  menial  are  places 
where  Japanese  boys  will  not  long  stay.  One  good 
lady  told  me  that  she  never  had  trouble  with  her 
domestics,  for  she  knew  how  "to  keep  them  in  their 
places."  Yet  what  she  told  of  her  ways  and  words 
satisfied  me  that  no  high-spirited  Japanese  boy 
would  be  willing  to  do  domestic  service  there 
for  any  length  of  time.  She  was  highly  conscious 
of  the  superiority  of  the  mistress  and  the  inferi 
ority  of  the  servant,  of  whose  rights  she  had  little 
thought. 

In  some  cases  impossible  situations  suddenly  arise. 
I  heard  of  one  boy  who  was  ordered  to  kill  a  chicken, 
a  thing  he  had  never  done  and  which  his  Buddhist 
training  rendered  absolutely  abhorrent  to  him. 
The  departing  boy  doubtless  felt  that  moral  wrong 
had  been  first  committed  by  the  employer,  which 
absolved  him  from  further  responsibility  and  obli 
gation.  The  mistress  simply  could  not  grasp  his 
standpoint,  nor  he  hers. 

An  important  cause  of  rupture  is,  no  doubt,  the 


54       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

failure  of  Japanese  to  understand  completely  what 
is  said  to  them,  or  even  the  real  meaning  of  what 
they  themselves  have  said.  They,  indeed,  use  En 
glish  words,  but  they  are  thinking  Japanese  thoughts. 
A  conversation  with  the  secretary  of  the  Japanese 
Association  of  Oakland  disclosed  the  fact  that  in 
the  vast  majority  of  cases  the  real  cause  of  difficul 
ties  between  Japanese  and  Americans  is  a  mutual 
misunderstanding,  due  to  ignorance  of  the  English 
language  or  of  American  customs  on  the  part  of  the 
Japanese.  The  American  assumes  that  the  Japa 
nese  employee  has  understood,  and  acts  accordingly. 
The  Japanese  assumes  that  he  has  understood  what 
was  said  and  he  acts  accordingly.  A  collision  ensues. 
Instead  of  ascribing  the  failure  to  misunderstanding, 
it  is  ascribed  on  both  sides  to  moral  delinquency. 
Lack  of  language  makes  it  impossible  to  straighten 
the  matter  out  and  so  it  remains  a  permanent  blot 
on  the  Japanese  fair  name. 

A  Christian  lady  once  told  me  of  her  exasperating 
experience  with  a  young  Japanese  woman  employed 
to  cook.  When  asked  if  she  knew  how  to  do  this 
or  that,  her  invariable  reply  was,  "  Yis,  yis,"  whereas 
it  soon  turned  out  that  she  did  not.  One  day  the 
usual  question  was  asked  regarding  a  certain  de 
sired  pudding,  eliciting  the  usual  reply,  "Yis,  yis"; 
a  half-hour  later  the  lady  was  driven  to  distraction 
by  the  sudden  appearance  of  the  cook  in  the  drawing- 
room,  bowl  in  hand,  ingredients  all  mixed,  with  the 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  55 

request:  "Please  show,  please  show."  The  short 
and  simple  explanation  of  the  recurring  difficulty 
between  cook  and  mistress  was  that  they  did  not 
understand  each  other's  words.  The  cook  did  not 
mean  "Yes,  I  do  understand"  when  she  said  "Yis, 
yis";  she  only  meant  "Yes,  I'm  listening."  The 
poor  cook  was  doubtless  in  even  more  distress  of 
mind  than  the  mistress  over  the  failure  of  her  mis 
tress  to  tell  clearly  what  she  wished  her  to  do. 

The  chief  of  a  Japanese  employment  bureau  once 
explained  to  me  a  reason  for  many  of  the  sudden 
departures  which  would  not  readily  occur  to  Amer 
icans.  Japanese  training  teaches  inferiors  not  to 
complain.  In  accordance  with  this  national  train 
ing,  a  "boy"  puts  up  with  this  inconvenience,  and 
that  word  or  remark  which  he  regards  as  an  insult, 
and  many  little  but  vexing  matters;  he  ever  shows 
a  smiling  face  in  accord  with  Japanese  etiquette,  all 
the  while  bottling  up  his  wrath  and  nursing  his 
troubles  in  silence.  In  Japan  the  employer  would 
in  time  see  the  signs  of  rising  discontent  or  indigna 
tion,  but  the  white  man  suspects  nothing.  At  last 
the  rising  tide  reaches  the  maximum — the  bursting 
point.  The  "boy"  simply  can't  stand  it  any  longer. 
But  true  to  his  Japanese  training,  he  cannot  say  the 
unpleasant  thing  he  feels  within;  he  can  make  no  in 
telligible  explanation.  His  only  recourse  is  to  leave, 
and  so  he  leaves  "very  sudden,"  his  mistress  re 
maining  in  mystified  amazement  at  the  unaccount- 


56       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

able  behavior  of  the  "boy"  with  whom  she  had 
been  so  pleased.  She  lays  it  up  as  the  one  striking 
immoral  characteristic  of  the  Japanese  people.  She 
reports  the  experience  to  her  friends,  and  they  to 
theirs,  until  it  becomes  proverbial  that  Japanese 
break  their  contracts  "without  hesitation  or  con 
sideration." 

A  Japanese  gentleman  who  has  lived  on  the  coast 
for  over  a  score  of  years  and  has  been  in  the  thick 
of  the  contest  for  fair  dealing  with  his  people  told 
the  writer  that,  while  some  Japanese  domestics  get 
into  good  American  homes,  so  many  get  into  homes 
where  they  are  not  only  imposed  on  and  ill  treated, 
but  where  they  see  such  an  unfortunate  side  of 
American  life  that  he  has  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  would  be  better  for  both  Japan  and  America 
if  all  Japanese  domestic  service  should  cease.  This 
statement  throws  no  little  light  on  the  entire  situ 
ation. 

A  particularly  serious  charge  against  Japanese, 
and  one,  by  the  nature  of  the  case,  relatively  diffi 
cult  to  meet,  is  that  of  extreme  sexual  immorality  on 
the  part  of  men  and  unhesitating  prostitution  on 
the  part  of  women.  This  charge  imputes  to  Japa 
nese,  as  a  whole,  a  character  which  is  by  no  means 
deserved.  Moreover,  "people  who  live  in  glass 
houses  should  not  throw  stones."  This  aphorism 
is  particularly  pertinent,  for  the  "tenderloin  dis 
trict"  of  San  Francisco  (closed  only  since  these 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  57 

pages  were  written)  is  notorious.  The  daily  press 
of  San  Francisco,  moreover,  discloses  a  state  of  af 
fairs  as  to  the  relation  of  the  sexes  in  certain  classes 
of  society  in  comparison  with  which  the  Japanese 
brothel  is  innocence.  In  this  connection  it  is  im 
portant  to  note  how  genuine  have  been  the  efforts 
of  certain  elements  among  the  Japanese  to  close  the 
brothels.  The  Japanese  Government,  likewise,  has 
taken  every  precaution  to  prevent  the  coming  to 
these  shores  of  women  who  might  become  prosti 
tutes.  The  awful  revelations  as  to  the  terrible  white- 
slave  trade  in  America  should  make  one  cautious  in 
charging  the  Japanese  with  being  sinners  above  all 
others  in  these  matters. 

During  the  past  eight  years  Japanese  brothels  in 
San  Francisco  have  been  reduced  from  twelve  to 
three,  and  in  Oakland  from  eight  to  one.  While 
writing  this  chapter  the  three  remaining  brothels  in 
San  Francisco  have  been  closed  through  the  action 
of  the  immigration  officers.  If  the  people  of  Cali 
fornia  were  particularly  eager  to  rid  themselves  of 
this  evil,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  apply  the  im 
migration  laws  which  provide  for  the  deportation  of 
foreign  prostitutes  and  foreigners  engaged  in  com 
mercialized  vice.  Respectable  Japanese  would  gladly 
aid  in  the  movement. 

In  regard  to  alleged  habits  of  retaliation  also, 
investigation  shows  that  wide  generalizations  have 
been  made  from  relatively  few  instances.  I  surmise 


58       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

that  sweeping  charges  are  made  because  feudalism 
is  known  to  have  made  revenge  one  of  its  funda 
mental  principles.  Such  reasoning,  however,  fails 
to  understand  the  feudal  teaching.  Retaliation  was 
allowed  and  encouraged  only  in  the  case  of  murder 
of  parent  or  feudal  lord.  In  all  other  cases  Bushido 
sought  to  repress  this  elemental  tendency  of  human 
nature.  It  is  safe  to  say  that,  all  in  all,  Japanese 
to-day  are  as  free  from  the  spirit  and  custom  of 
revenge  as  any  of  the  peoples  of  Europe.  Retalia 
tion,  as  sanctioned  by  Bushido,  is  forbidden  by  the 
laws  of  modern  Japan  and  would  be  severely  pun 
ished.  In  regard  to  retaliation  in  business  matters 
on  this  coast,  details  thus  far  learned  indicate  that 
some  of  it,  at  least,  is  not  particularly  reprehensible, 
namely,  the  blacklisting  of  certain  American  indi 
viduals  whose  treatment  of  Japanese  labor  had  been 
found  to  be  treacherous.  The  Japanese  injured 
simply  let  their  fellow  countrymen  know  the  facts, 
with  the  result  that  those  white  employers  could 
secure  no  more  Japanese  labor. 

One  striking  feature  of  charges  against  the  Jap 
anese  is  the  all  but  universal  assumption  that  the 
American  employer  is  always  right  and  that  the  fault 
lies  exclusively  on  the  side  of  the  Japanese.  This, 
however,  is  altogether  improbable.  The  fact  that 
even  white  labor  has  been  able  to  secure  fair  wages 
and  right  treatment  from  white  employers  only  by 
the  formation  of  unions  and  repeated  strikes  shows 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  59 

the  character  of  some  white  employers.  It  is  not  to 
be  lightly  assumed  that  the  treatment  of  Asiatic  la 
borers  by  white  employers,  with  whom  they  cannot 
speak  an  intelligible  sentence,  is  altogether  above 
reproach. 

Employers  of  Japanese  labor,  who  find  them  sat 
isfactory,  have  told  the  writer  that  success  or  failure 
in  their  employment  depends  entirely  on  the  treat 
ment  accorded  them.  Courteous  treatment  and 
kindly  thought  for  their  needs  and  welfare  invariably 
insure  good  results.  Japanese  laborers  quickly  de 
velop  a  feeling  of  personal  loyalty  and  will  do  more 
than  the  contract  calls  for.  Effort,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  drive  them  produces  resentment.  The 
same  point  was  made  by  a  group  of  Japanese  gentle 
men  with  whom  I  dined  one  evening.  In  illustration 
of  this  point,  I  was  told  of  a  certain  large  ranch  where 
some  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  Jap 
anese  laborers  were  employed  each  summer.  For 
two  or  three  years  there  was  constant  trouble  in  little 
things;  friction  and  ill  will  were  constantly  in  evi 
dence;  the  laborers  thought  they  were  being  treated 
like  dogs  and  never  worked  happily.  Not  long  ago 
the  responsibility  of  caring  for  the  laborers  passed 
into  the  hands  of  a  son,  whose  attitude  was  one  of 
personal  interest.  When  a  train  passed  by  he  would 
tell  the  men  to  stop  work  and  look  at  it,  and  then 
when  it  had  passed,  he  would  suggest  to  them  to 
make  up  lost  time.  In  many  little  ways  he  would 


60      THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

consult  their  convenience  or  pleasure.  In  conse 
quence,  they  became  loyal  to  him  and  he  secured 
much  better  service  from  them. 

This  incident  well  illustrates  the  point  made  above, 
that  Japanese  relationships  are  personal.  Workmen 
will  do  for  one  whom  they  regard  as  a  friend  what 
they  will  not  do  for  one  whom  they  regard  as  a  mere 
industrial  boss.  In  other  words,  they  wish  to  be 
treated  as  men  and  not  as  machines  or  mere  "  hands. " 
And  is  not  this  instinct  human?  Is  not  one  of  the 
underlying  faults  of  our  entire  system  of  Western 
industry  that  we  have  reduced  the  relationship  of 
workers  and  employers,  of  labor  and  capital,  to  a 
strictly  mechanical,  financial  basis?  And  is  not  the 
real  and  only  solution  of  our  difficulties  a  return  to 
the  personal,  the  human  relation?  However  that 
may  be,  the  fact  is  that  Japanese  labor  is  not  famil 
iar  with  the  Western  method. 

The  sweeping  condemnation  of  the  entire  Asiatic 
people  and  civilization  made  by  United  States  Sen 
ator  Perkins1  would  require  an  entire  volume  for 
adequate  consideration.  The  writer  has  lived  in 
Japan  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  and  does  not  hesi 
tate  from  personal  experience  to  pronounce  all  such 
sweeping  assertions  to  be  utterly  mistaken.  The 
assertion  would  be  equally  true  if  reversed,  so  far, 
at  least,  as  the  Japanese  are  concerned.  That  any 
sane  or  Christian  man  can  pass  such  a  universal 

1  Chap.  1,  p.  $.  n 

' 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  61 

Y 

condemnation  on  a  people  he  does  not  know  is  be 
yond  the  writer 's  comprehension.1 

Verily,  Japan  is  not  perfect.  Every  sin  in  the  deca 
logue  may  be  found  among  its  peoples,  but  what  of 
America?  May  the  pot  call  the  kettle  black? 

Who,  indeed,  is  capable  of  exercising  impartial 
judgment?  Who  has  sufficient  knowledge  of  actual 
conditions  to  pass  righteous  sentence?  Is  any  one 
competent,  short  of  Omniscience? 

The  problem  of  Japanese  assimilability  is  so  com 
plex  that  two  chapters  are  devoted  to  its  consid 
eration.  Here  we  take  up  the  miscellaneous  objec 
tions  presented  in  the  fifth  section  of  Chapter  II. 

It  is  amazing  that  any  one  can  seriously  advance 
the  proposition  that  Japanese  chauvinism  is  the  real 
cause  of  California's  anti-Japanese  spirit.  Surely 
the  anti-Japanese  movement  began  in  California 
almost  as  soon  as  any  Japanese  arrived  on  the 
coast,  a  score  of  years  ago.  The  Asiatic  Exclusion 
League  has  been  in  existence  for  many  years.  It 
would  be  far  nearer  to  the  facts  to  say  that  the  anti- 
American  feeling  in  Japan  and  the  belligerent  utter 
ances  of  her  irresponsible  student  and  politician 
classes  have  been  evoked  by  the  repeated  efforts  in 
California  at  rabid  anti-Japanese  legislation  and  by 
the  discourteous  and  unstatesman-like  speeches  made 
in  support  of  the  proposed  legislation. 

1  The  reader  who  wishes  to  study  the  characteristics  of  the  Jap 
anese  more  fully  is  referred  to  "  Evolution  of  the  Japanese,  Social 
and  Psychic,"  by  the  writer,  Fleming  H.  Revell  Co.,  1906. 


62       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

No  doubt  the  blame  for  some  of  the  exaggerated 
sentiments  expressed  on  both  shores  of  the  Pacific 
should  be  placed  on  an  irresponsible  chauvinistic 
press.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  international 
harm  done  by  purveyors  of  international  news,  who 
exaggerate  and  distort  the  news,  if  they  do  not 
actually  and  positively  fabricate  it. 

To  the  writer,  Japanese  insistence  on  race  equality 
is  a  commendation,  rather  than  the  reverse.  This 
very  quality  renders  him  a  desirable  immigrant. 
For  such  a  man  and  such  a  people  are  far  more  likely 
to  make  good  American  citizens  than  if  their  inher 
ent  tendency  was  to  accept  a  servile  attitude.  We 
want,  in  this  land,  a  people  of  free  and  equal  citizens, 
not  a  ruling  class  at  the  top  and  a  docile,  servile 
class  at  the  bottom.  Considerable  inquiry,  however, 
shows  that  opposition  to  Japanese,  because  they 
claim  to  be  the  equal  of  white  men,  is  limited  to  a 
small  number;  certainly  it  is  by  no  means  universal. 

In  a  subsequent  chapter  we  shall  consider  with 
some  care  the  shortcomings  of  California's  oriental 
policy.  At  this  point  it  is  pertinent  to  say  that 
Californian  criticism  of  Japan  and  the  Japanese 
rests  on  profound  misunderstandings  as  to  what  they 
desire.  Japan  does  not  ask  for  free  immigration, 
nor  is  she  demanding  rights  of  naturalization  for 
her  citizens.  Even  though  California  desired  large 
immigration  from  Japan,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe 
Japan  would  allow  it,  for  she  would  keep  her  young 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  63 

men  at  home  not  only  for  her  army  but  also 
for  the  development  of  her  resources  in  Formosa, 
Korea,  and  Hokkaido.  Anti- Japanese  criticism  and 
legislation,  which  rest  on  baseless  assertions  and 
groundless  fears,  is,  of  course,  weak  and  open  to 
criticism. 

The  statement  made  by  some  that  Japan  does 
not  allow  foreigners  to  become  citizens  is  entirely 
mistaken.  Japanese  law  has  allowed  it  for  many 
years,  and  a  number  of  Americans,  Englishmen,  and 
others  have  availed  themselves  of  the  provision.1 

Equally  mistaken  is  the  common  opinion  that 
foreigners  may  not  own  land  in  Japan.  It  is  true 
that  a  general  law  relating  to  the  entire  matter  was 
passed  by  the  Japanese  Diet  some  three  years  ago 
and  still  awaits  Imperial  sanction  before  it  goes 
into  operation.  But  for  many  years  Japanese  laws 
have  allowed  what  is  equivalent  to  ownership  by 
foreigners.  Several  years  ago  the  writer  himself 
leased,  for  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  years,  a 
piece  of  land  on  which  to  erect  a  summer  cottage. 
The  entire  payment  was  made  in  a  single  sum.  In 
the  lease  is  a  clause  to  the  effect  that,  in  case  the  law 
of  the  land  shall  at  any  time  during  the  nine  hun 
dred  and  ninety-nine  years  allow  of  fee-simple  own 
ership,  the  change  shall  be  made  without  further 
payment.  Moreover,  any  group  of  foreigners  incor 
porating  under  the  laws  of  Japan  has  rights  and 

1  Appendix. 


64       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

privileges  identical  with  those  granted  to  a  corpora 
tion  composed  entirely  of  Japanese  citizens.1 

But,  in  considering  the  question  of  rights  granted 
by  Japan  to  foreigners  for  land  ownership,  we  should 
not  forget  how  small  Japan  is  and  how  heavily  peo 
pled  is  her  territory.  Reciprocal  privileges  and  duties 
can  hardly,  with  justice,  be  demanded.  Would  any 
one  expect  of  a  man  whose  entire  property  did 
not  exceed  $1,000  complete  reciprocal  relations  with 
one  whose  property  was  reckoned  by  the  million? 
To  charge  Japan  with  selfishness  and  inconsistency 
would  seem  to  be  but  proof  of  one's  own  slight  ap 
preciation  of  the  circumstances. 

Yet  this  is  not  all.  The  crucial  point  is  that 
Japan's  laws  are  absolutely  non-differential.  She 
treats  all  nations  with  absolute  equality.  What  she 
complains  of  in  Calif  ornian  legislation,  and,  of  course, 
in  that  of  other  States  also,  which  have  passed  similar 
laws,  is  that  it  discriminates.  Asiatics  are  singled 
out  for  differential  treatment  in  ways  that  are 
not  only  financially  disastrous  but  that  are  racially 
humiliating. 

The  writer  holds  no  brief  for  Japan,  nor  is  he 
authorized  to  speak  for  her,  nor  has  he  ever  dis 
cussed  the  question  in  Japan  with  any  Japanese, 
whether  a  private  citizen  or  a  member  of  the  gov 
ernment,  yet  he  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the 

1 A  full  statement  of  the  present  Japanese  laws  relating  to  foreign 
land  ownership  and  lease  rights  may  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  65 

Japanese  Government  would  take  into  serious  and 
friendly  consideration  any  difficult  problem  experi 
enced  by  America  in  connection  with  Japanese  im 
migration  if  brought  to  its  notice  through  the  proper 
channels,  and  would  generously  exert  itself  to  find  a 
solution  mutually  satisfactory.  His  long  experience 
in  Japan  has  convinced  the  writer  that  no  govern 
ment  and  no  people  feel  more  deeply  the  humiliation 
and  the  pain  of  any  discourteous  treatment. 

The  statement  that  Japan  allows  the  coming  to 
her  shores  of  no  labor  immigrants  is  correct.  But 
the  argument  that  therefore  she  should  not  object 
to  American  exclusion  of  Japanese  laborers  over 
looks  the  point  that  her  laws  do  not  discriminate 
between  nations,  whereas  the  proposed  American 
law  providing  for  Japanese  exclusion  does  so  dis 
criminate. 

This,  exactly,  is  the  difficulty.  The  writer  has 
heard  Japanese  gentlemen  say  that  Japan  has  no 
objection  to  any  legislation  in  America  whatever, 
provided  it  treats  all  nations  equally.  Should  a 
State,  or  the  whole  United  States,  pass  laws  abso 
lutely  forbidding  landownership  by  aliens,  Japan 
would  not  protest,  because  such  laws  would  apply 
to  all  aliens  equally.  What  she  does  object  to  is 
invidious  discriminating  legislation. 

Those  who  argue  that  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
Americans  and  of  Japanese  in  each  other's  coun 
tries  should  be  reciprocal  should  consider  the  appli- 


66       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

cation  of  this  principle.  In  regard  to  naturaliza 
tion,  Japan  already  allows  Americans  to  become  full 
citizens  of  Japan  with  every  right  conferred  thereby. 
Does  not  full  reciprocity  require  that  the  same 
privilege  be  granted  at  once  to  Japanese  in  America? 
In  regard  to  rights  of  landownership,  as  we  have 
seen,  Japan  already  grants  such  rights  in  large 
measure.  Yet  many  States  have  laws  discriminat 
ing  against  aliens  who  cannot  become  citizens.  In 
both  these  matters  Japan  is  more  liberal  than 
America. 

As  we  have  seen,  it  is  no  reply  to  say  that  Japan 
does  not  allow  her  citizens  to  expatriate  themselves. 
Such  an  assertion  only  reveals  ignorance.  Nor  is 
the  reply  pertinent  that  Japanese  in  America  do  not 
wish  to  be  naturalized.  From  considerable  per 
sonal  inquiry  the  writer  knows  that  many  Japanese 
in  California,  as  well  as  in  Hawaii,  would  welcome 
the  opportunity  were  it  opened  to  them.  They 
have  been  deterred  thus  far  from  making  application 
because  of  the  knowledge  that  it  would  not  be  al 
lowed. 

Among  the  frequent  sinister  criticisms  of  the 
Japanese  is  that,  though  they  should  become  Amer 
ican  citizens  in  form,  in  heart  they  would  still  be 
Japanese,  loyal  to  their  divine  Mikado,  and  in  case 
of  war  would  surely  fight  for  him,  proving  to  be 
dangerous  traitors.  This  is  a  bogie.  They  would  be 
have  like  members  of  any  other  race.  Much  would 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  67 

depend  on  the  occasion  for  the  war — the  circum 
stances  leading  to  it,  and  the  apparent  justice  or  in 
justice  of  it.  But  this  is  a  bogie  in  another  sense, 
too.  It  is  a  purely  academic  question;  one  of  pure 
theory,  for  there  is  not  the  slightest  probability  of 
war  between  these  two  countries.  This  matter,  how 
ever,  will  be  more  fully  considered  in  a  later  chap 
ter.  I  believe  there  is  no  more  danger  of  war  with 
Japan  than  with  England.  Every  prudential  reason 
will  hinder.  It  is  no  more  thinkable  that  Japan 
should  declare  war  on  the  United  States  than  that 
the  United  States  should  declare  war  on  Japan. 
There  is  good  reason  to  think  that  naturalized  En 
glishmen  are  still  loyal  Britishers.  We  should  not 
ask  more  of  Japanese  than  we  ask  of  naturalized 
citizens  of  any  other  people.  And  it  should  be  re 
membered  that  Japanese  leaders  in  discussing  this 
question  frankly  say  that  those  Japanese  who  become 
citizens  of  another  land  should,  in  case  of  war,  fight 
for  that  land,  even  against  their  own  mother  country. 
That  Japanese  naturalized  citizens  would,  for  a 
time,  be  apt  to  vote  together  is  not  altogether  im 
probable,  for  they  would  naturally  have  the  same 
general  view-point  in  regard  to  local  and  national 
questions.  But  their  view-point  would  be  one  of 
the  rightful  factors  entering  into  the  situation. 
Moreover,  the  Japanese,  in  voting  together,  would 
not  be  unique.  Do  not  even  the  Gentiles  the 
same? — the  Irish,  the  German,  the  negro,  and  even 


68       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

the  Jew?  This  argument,  accordingly,  has  no  par 
ticular  force. 

That  many  whites  have  a  feeling  of  unreasoning 
antipathy  to  the  Asiatic  is  indisputable,  and  this 
fact  certainly  demands  consideration  by  those  who 
advocate  Japanese  naturalization  and  immigration. 
Yet  it  is  also  true  that  many  whites  who  have  come 
into  close  contact  with  Japanese  do  not  feel  this 
antipathy;  on  the  contrary,  profound  feelings  of 
mutual  respect  and  even  of  attraction  are  felt  by 
not  a  few. 

Moreover,  most  of  those  who  are  powerfully 
swayed  by  antipathy  have  had  no  real  opportunity 
for  knowing  the  Japanese  in  any  deep  or  helpful 
way.  There  is  no  little  ground  for  the  belief  that, 
under  favorable  conditions  and  with  the  passing  of 
time,  the  present  antipathy  for  Japanese  will  pass 
away. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  passing  away  of  violent 
racial  antipathy  is  Japan  herself.  For  nearly  three 
hundred  years  Japan  was  swayed  by  violent  and 
most  unjustifiable  opposition  to  the  entire  white 
race.  This  was  due,  indeed,  to  certain  unfortunate 
experiences.  Thanks,  however,  to  American  diplo 
macy,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  to  the 
wide  travel  of  Japanese  scholars  and  statesmen,  and 
also  to  the  lives  of  hundreds  of  Christian  mission 
aries  in  all  parts  of  Japan — who,  through  their  knowl 
edge  of  the  Japanese  language  and  their  kindly 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  69 

spirit  and  good-will,  have  been  able  to  establish  firm 
friendship  with  tens  of  thousands  of  Japanese,  rep 
resenting  every  social  class — Japan's  antipathy  and 
distrust  of  the  white  man  has  been  largely,  if  not 
wholly,  overcome.  They  are  ready,  as  a  nation,  to 
give  every  white  man  a  chance.  It  now  depends  on 
his  own  individual  character  whether  or  not  he  be 
comes  persona  grata.  And  this  is  all  that  can  be 
asked  of  any  people. 

All  that  Japan  and  lovers  of  fair  play  ask  is  that 
each  Japanese  in  America  be  treated  on  the  basis  of 
his  individual  character,  just  as  an  Irishman  or  a 
German  or  even  an  American  is  treated,  and  not  on 
the  basis  of  a  highly  mistaken  conception  of  racial 
characteristics,  which  springs  from  profound  igno 
rance  and  accepts  with  absolute  credence  every  vili 
fying  and  outrageous  slander. 

There  exists,  among  certain  classes  of  Americans 
to-day,  an  unreasoning  antipathy  to  the  Japanese. 
There  is  also,  beyond  question,  some  ground  for 
antipathy  in  the  conduct  and  life  of  many  of  the 
immigrants  from  Japan.  But  considerable  investi 
gation  shows  that  the  evils  complained  of  are  being 
corrected.  As  Japanese  become  Americanized,  and 
especially  if  they  are  allowed  to  become  full  American 
citizens,  the  present  ignorance  with  regard  to  them 
will  give  place  to  knowledge,  and  antipathy  to  re 
spect  and  good- will.  Time  and  patience  on  both 
sides  will,  of  course,  be  needful.  But  if  Japanese 


70       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

antipathy  for  the  whites  has  been  largely  overcome 
in  Japan  in  less  than  two  generations,  by  the  adop 
tion  and  consistent  enforcement  in  Japan  of  a  right 
national  policy,  surely  the  same  good  result  will  be 
secured  in  America  by  the  adoption  of  a  similarly 
wise  national  policy. 

Viewed  in  a  comprehensive  way,  however,  includ 
ing  all  the  factors  both  on  the  side  of  the  Japanese 
and  on  that  of  America,  it  is  not  at  all  strange  that 
the  situation  is  what  we  now  see.  It  could  hardly 
have  been  otherwise.  Personally,  the  writer  is  not 
inclined  to  blame  either  side.  Nor  is  it  strange  that 
many  regard  as  hopeless  the  problem  of  reconciling 
the  white  and  Japanese  races.  That  such  thinkers 
demand  the  strictest  separation  of  Asiatic  from 
American  is  natural.  Such,  nevertheless,  we  are 
convinced,  is  not  the  right  solution.  Wise  states 
manship,  with  mutual  patience  and  good-will  along 
with  sufficient  time,  will  bring  the  desired  solution 
and  with  it  great  gain  to  both  East  and  West.  The 
outlines  of  such  a  solution  we  suggest  in  our  closing 
chapter. 

Certain  excellencies  of  the  Japanese  which  Cali- 
fornians  have  generally  overlooked  should  be  noted 
before  closing  this  chapter. 

Although  the  lower  class  of  Japanese  may  not  have 
a  highly  developed  sense  of  business  honor  and  may 
be  "sharp"  in  their  business  transactions,  no  one 
has  charged  them  with  petty  thieving.  Freedom 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  71 

from  this  habit  is  a  universal  trait  of  Japanese  in 
their  home  land,  in  this  respect  absolutely  differ 
entiating  them  from  the  Chinese.  This  is  a  moral 
development  of  no  slight  significance.  The  Japanese 
far  surpass  not  only  Chinese  but  also  Italians,  Span 
ish,  and  Portuguese  in  this  respect. 

Again,  while  Japanese  are  commonly  believed  to  be 
extremely  licentious,  no  one  has  ever  attributed  to 
them  the  crime  so  frequently  charged  to  negroes, 
from  which  also  other  races  are  not  wholly  free. 
Here  is  an  important  fact  whose  significance  they 
should  ponder  who  charge  Japanese  with  lack  of 
respect  for  women  and  lack  of  sex  morality.  The 
fact  is  that  Japanese  are  an  exceedingly  law-abiding 
people.  No  land  probably  has  ever  been  so  com 
pletely  and  minutely  ruled  as  Japan.  It  is  a  wide 
spread  belief  that  what  the  government  allows  or 
provides  for  is  right.  This  postulate  has  had  deep 
influence  in  determining  Japanese  ideas  of  sexual 
morality.  Rape  is  a  crime  we  never  hear  of  in  Japan. 

Another  admirable  characteristic  of  Japanese  in 
California  is  the  promptness  with  which  they  pay 
their  rents.  This  may  be  because  of  their  relative 
financial  prosperity.  There  are  practically  no  poor 
Japanese  in  California.  But  if  they  were  really  as 
unprincipled  in  money  matters  as  they  are  com 
monly  believed  to  be,  we  would  certainly  hear  of 
efforts  more  or  less  successful  to  beat  landlords  out 
of  rents. 


72       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

Few  people  probably  are  as  generous  as  Japanese 
in  personal  relationships.  Their  expressions  of  grat 
itude  to  those  who  help  them  or  to  those  who  are 
on  terms  of  good  neighborliness  are  frequent  and 
striking. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  sometimes  Californians 
charge  Japanese  with  living  in  filth — "they  live 
like  pigs"  is  what  I  have  been  told  by  two  or  three 
critics — as  a  matter  of  fact,  Japanese  as  a  whole  are 
the  most  cleanly  foreigners  that  come  to  America. 
If  they  are  able  to  acquire  a  little  property,  especially 
if  they  have  their  own  homes  and  wives  and  children, 
this  characteristic,  along  with  their  innate  artistic 
sense,  becomes  conspicuous.  When  contrasted  with 
immigrants  from  other  lands  their  superiority  is 
truly  remarkable. 

After  Bishop  Brent  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  in 
the  steerage  of  a  boat  sailing  from  Naples  he  wrote : 
"I  never  quite  gauged  the  menace  from  Southern 
Europeans  until  I  came  over  with  the  indigestible 
mass  on  the  Caronia.  One  has  pity  for  them,  but 
that  ought  not  to  blind  us  to  the  danger  they  bring 
to  this  country.  In  virility  and  decency  the  Jap 
anese  are  infinitely  beyond  them." 

Although  Japanese  are  not,  as  a  rule,  teetotalers, 
yet  they  are  exceptionally  free  from  drunkenness, 
in  this  respect  far  surpassing  laborers  from  Euro 
pean  countries. 

Japanese  as  a  rule  are  as  much  opposed  to  inter- 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  73 

marriage  of  races  as  are  Americans.  In  his  report 
to  the  Carnegie  Endowment  for  International  Peace 
(1913)  President  Chas.  W.  Eliot  calls  attention  to 
the  remarkable  fact  that  wherever  the  Japanese  have 
lived  in  foreign  lands  they  keep  their  race  pure- 
"They  do  not  intermarry,"  he  says,  "with  women  of 
any  foreign  race,  affording  thus  a  strong  contrast  to 
the  white  race  when  in  foreign  parts.  The  inexpe 
dient  crossing  of  unlike  races  will  not  be  promoted 
by  them  in  any  part  of  the  world."  Does  not  the 
"picture-bride"  movement  in  California  substantiate 
this  view?  There  are,  of  course,  individual  excep 
tions — and  as  many  exceptional  Americans  as  Jap 
anese.  But  if  this  impulse  to  keep  the  race  pure  is 
in  truth  generally  felt  by  them,  then  that  which  is 
probably  the  strongest  single  cause  of  opposition  to 
Japanese  in  California  is  groundless — namely,  fear 
of  race  intermarriage  and  mongrel  offspring.  Is  not 
this  race  tendency  on  the  part  of  Japanese  one  of 
their  commendable  traits? 

Japanese  are  commonly  believed  to  be  widely  in 
fected  with  venereal  diseases.  A  scientific  investiga 
tion  of  this  question  is  urgently  needed.  The  only 
positive  evidence  I  have  been  able  to  secure  was  from 
a  physician  who  serves  as  examiner  for  the  New  York 
Life  Insurance  Company.  The  reasons  for  with 
holding  his  name  are  obvious.  The  facts  he  fur 
nishes  are  as  follows:  During  the  past  year  he  had 
examined  more  than  one  hundred  Japanese  appli- 


74       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

cants  for  policies,  none  of  whom  had  had  so  far  as 
he  could  discover  any  venereal  disease.  Most  of 
these  applicants  were  heads  of  families  and  usually 
took  out  twenty-year  endowment  policies  ranging 
from  $500  to  $5,000.  (Query — are  immigrants  from 
other  lands  doing  the  same  thing?)  The  Common 
wealth  Club  of  San  Francisco  in  its  report  on  the 
failure  of  vice  segregation  in  that  city  to  prevent  the 
spread  of  venereal  diseases  states  that  not  less  than 
fifty  per  cent  of  American  men  are  infected  at  some 
time  with  some  form  of  the  "red  plague." 

And,  finally,  a  large  number  of  Japanese  in  Cali 
fornia  have  become  Christians.  This  matter  will 
come  up  again  in  another  connection.  But  by  way 
of  illustration  I  shall  speak  of  a  surprise  that  I  had 
in  southern  California.  I  was  studying  the  condition 
of  the  Japanese  around  Los  Angeles.  After  looking 
at  one  or  two  Japanese  farms  several  miles  from  the 
city,  I  pointed  to  a  house  where  a  Japanese  was  work 
ing  and  suggested  that  we  examine  his  place.  The 
man  gave  us  greeting  when  he  knew  my  errand,  told 
of  his  hopes — he  was  just  developing  a  horticultural 
enterprise  on  a  five-acre  lot  bought  some  three  years 
before.  He  seemed  perfectly  ready  to  answer  all 
my  questions.  To  the  query  how  long  he  planned  to 
stay  in  America,  he  replied  that  when  he  came  he 
expected  to  remain  only  a  few  years — nine  years  had 
now  slipped  away.  Two  years  ago  he  had  got  a  wife 
from  Japan,  and  would  doubtless  remain  here  all  his 


MISUNDERSTANDINGS  75 

life  unless  "persecution"  should  arise.  I  ventured 
to  ask  if  I  might  look  into  his  home.  He  took  me 
right  in;  it  was  furnished  like  any  middle-class  Amer 
ican  home,  with  chairs,  tables,  sofa,  pictures,  and 
bookcases.  Except  for  the  Japanese  photos  on  the 
desk,  I  would  not  have  suspected  it  to  be  the  home 
of  a  Japanese.  The  young  wife  had  evidently  beaten 
a  hasty  retreat  with  her  babe  from  the  adjoining  din 
ing-room,  abandoning  the  sewing-machine  on  which 
was  a  dress  partly  made. 

But  that  which  impressed  me  most  deeply  was  the 
large  reproduction  of  Hoffman's  "  Jesus  in  the  Tem 
ple,"  finely  framed,  hung  opposite  the  front  door. 
Another  large  picture  was  that  of  Saint  Cecilia  at 
the  organ.  There  were  two  bookcases  containing  a 
hundred  or  more  volumes.  Some  of  these  were  Jap 
anese,  but  the  majority  were  English.  Some  thirty 
or  forty  were  religious  books.  I  noted  Van  Dyke's 
" Gospel  for  an  Age  of  Doubt,"  Drummond's  "As 
cent  of  Man,"  one  or  two  commentaries,  a  volume 
on  prayer,  and  others  dealing  specifically  with  the 
Christian  life. 

I  asked  the  man  if  he  was  a  Christian,  to  which  he 
modestly  assented— he  was  converted  some  seven 
years  ago  in  Los  Angeles.  I  asked  him  if  he  went  to 
church.  "Yes,  to  Los  Angeles."  As  this  was  some 
nine  miles  distant,  I  asked  how  often  he  attended. 
"Every  Sunday,"  he  replied,  "unless  something 
specially  interferes." 


76       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

This  ended  my  interview,  but  it  was  enough.  It 
threw  a  flood  of  light  on  the  whole  Japanese- Ameri 
can  problem.  Here  was  a  Japanese  who  splendidly 
illustrated  what  the  race  is  capable  of.  He  is  as 
fit  to  become  an  American  citizen  as  any  that 
come  from  any  race.  He  refutes  in  his  home,  in  his 
life,  in  his  ideals,  and  in  his  practices  ninety-nine  per 
cent  of  all  the  charges  brought  against  Japanese 
immigrants.  He  is  doing  what  anti-Japanese  critics 
say  is  impossible.  Under  favoring  circumstances, 
this  instance  may  be  multiplied  many  thousandfold. 
Since  that  time  I  have  had  opportunity  to  look  into 
a  number  of  Japanese  homes,  and  in  every  instance 
the  conviction  has  grown  that  no  European  race  is 
likely  to  give  us  better  immigrants  or  more  promis 
ing  prospective  citizens  than  Japan. 


CHAPTER  V 
FACTS  ABOUT  FLORIN 

"THE  classic  instance  of  Japanese  agrarian  aggres 
sion  is  the  town  of  Florin/'  says  Mr.  Macfarlane  in 
Collier's  Weekly  (June  7,  1913).  Many  reputable 
citizens  of  California  cited  Florin  as  ocular  proof  of 
disastrous  Japanese  invasion,  and  urged  me  to  visit 
the  place.  I  accordingly  did  so  and  herewith  record 
my  results. 

To  give  a  picture  of  what  I  was  led  to  expect,  I 
take  verbatim  an  article  that  appeared  in  the  Sacra 
mento  Bee  (May  1,  1913) : 

"THEY  OWN  AND  CONTROL  IT — ONLY  ONE  WHITE 
MAN  IN  BUSINESS  IN  COUNTRY  TOWN  ONCE  A  FLOUR 
ISHING  COMMUNITY  OF  STURDY  AMERICAN  FARMERS — 
THEY  COULDN'T  STAND  THE  ORIENTAL  AND  HAD  TO 
LEAVE'. 

"FLORIN,  CAL.,  May  1. — Florin,  California,  is  a 
town  of  Japs.  It  is  9  miles  from  Sacramento,  the 
state  capital,  in  the  heart  of  one  of  the  richest  agri 
cultural  empires  of  the  world. 

"The  railroad  cuts  the  town  in  two.  The  main 
street  runs  for  perhaps  a  half  mile  on  either  side  of 
the  railroad  at  right  angles  to  the  track.  A  few 
houses  cluster  together  in  groups  on  either  side  of 
this  street,  crowding  each  other  closely.  But  for 

77 


78       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

the  most  part,  the  houses  are  scattered  and  far 
apart. 

"Most  of  the  houses  are  low,  squatty,  untidy, 
unpainted  shacks.  Those  buildings  that  are  not 
shacks  were  once  occupied  by  white  people. 

"Their  owners  have  long  since  fled,  literally  driven 
out  by  the  little  brown  men  who  now  occupy  their 
premises. 

"  Less  than  one-fourth  of  its  population  of  500  are 
white;  the  rest  are  Japs. 

"Florin  has: 

"Two  Jap  stores. 

"One  Jap  barber  shop. 

"One  Jap  boarding  house  that  furnishes  meals  for 
nine  cents  each. 

"One  Jap  blacksmith  shop. 

"One  Jap  school,  and  one  Jap  shoe  shop. 

"The  school,  built  for  the  children  of  white  men, 
is  now  almost  half  Japanese.  In  one  room  there  are 
20  white  children  and  22  Japs. 

"John  Reese  is  the  only  white  man  who  owns  a 
store  in  Florin. 

" '  Eight  years  ago/  he  said,  l  Florin  was  a  flourish 
ing  town.  There  were  two  hotels,  three  grocery 
stores,  and  a  drug  store  here,  all  run  by  white  folks. 

" l  Then  the  Japs  came.  Before  that  we  had  cheap 
Chinese  labor — 'bout  seven  dollars  a  week,  a«§S*s%k 
would  work  for — but  the  Skippies  (the  name  they 
call  the  Japs  in  the  West)  took  the  same  jobs  for 
75  cents  a  day  and  the  pig  I  oils  had  to  go. 

"'Then  the  Japs  got  to  leasin'  land  on  shares,  an' 
before  the  white  people  realized  it,  they  had  control 
of  the  best  farms.  Now  the  Japs  are  buy  in7  land 
as  fast  as  they  can. 

"'The  Japanese  have  depreciated  real  estate  in 
this  neighborhood  to  about  one-third  of  its  actual 


The  house  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Suzuki,  Florin.  Mr.  Suzuki  is  secretary  of  the  Japanese  Asso 
ciation  of  Florin.  Mrs.  Suzuki,  a  graduate  of  the  Tokyo  Medical  School,  being  the 
only  physician  in  Florin,  treats  both  whites  and  Japanese. 


The  house  that  Mr.  Murai  built  with  his  own  hands.     He  consented  to  be  photographed 
with  his  family  as  he  came  in  from  the  field.     Are  these  homes  "shacks"? 


FACTS  ABOUT  FLORIN  79 

value.  A  Jap  will  buy  a  white  man  out  for  a  big 
price.  The  white  man  who  lives  next  to  him  doesn't 
like  Mr.  Jap  for  a  neighbor  because  he  lives  like  a 
pig.  He  is  forced  to  sell.  No  white  man  will  buy, 
consequently,  the  man  who  lives  next  to  the  Jap  is 
forced  to  sell  to  some  other  Jap  at  a  figure  that  suits 
the  Jap,  an7  there  you  are. 

"'Now,  the  Jap  is  a  wily  an'  crafty  individual — 
more  so  than  the  Chink.  The  Japs  realize  that  the 
whites  do  not  like  to  live  next  to  them,  so  they  try 
to  scatter  their  holdings.  They  try  to  buy  in  the 
neighborhoods  where  there  are  nothin'  but  white 
folks.  Then  it's  just  like  when  you  throw  a  rock  in 
the  river.  Mr.  Jap  is  the  rock  and  when  he  splashes 
into  the  midst  of  a  section  of  country  thickly  popu 
lated  by  white  folks  he  starts  a  wave  of  migration 
that  keeps  gettin'  wider  and  wider  just  like  the 
ripple  in  the  river  until  all  the  white  folks  have 
moved  out  an'  the  Japs  have  moved  in. 

"'  Until  this  agitation  was  started  about  the  anti- 
alien  land  law,  the  Japs  bought  most  of  their  land  on 
contract,  payin'  down  just  enough  to  hold  it.  But 
when  the  bill  was  first  drafted  it  specified  that  those 
who  had  deeds  to  land  could  hold  it.  Well,  sir, 
there  was  a  Japanese  rush  to  pay  upon  land  that 
resembled  the  invasion  of  Port  Arthur. 

'"In  1910  the  Japanese  owned  1900  acres  of  land 
in  California.  Now,  it  is  estimated  they  own  50,000 
acres  accordin'  to  the  report  before  the  senate  on 
the  anti-alien  bill.  Ari  if  we  don't  legislate  against 
this  yellow  peril,  they  will  drive  the  American  people 
away  from  the  soil  entirely  and  the  rich  agricultural 
industry  of  the  West  will  be  controlled  by  the  Japanese. 

"  'The  Jap  works  on  the  white  man's  money.  Vir 
tually,  he  has  nothin'  at  stake,  yet  the  white  man  is 
at  his  mercy.  He  hits  the  country  with  his  blankets 


80       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

on  his  back  and  the  white  man  stakes  him.  If  he 
fails  he  only  loses  his  time — the  white  man  loses  the 
money. 

"  'As  soon  as  a  Jap  can  produce  a  lease,  he  is  en 
titled  to  a  wife.  He  sends  a  copy  of  his  lease  back 
home  and  gets  a  picture  bride  and  they  increase  like 
rats.  Florin  is  producin'  85  American-born  Japs  a 
year. 

"'The  Jap  will  always  be  an  undesirable.  They 
are  lower  in  the  scale  o'  civilization  than  the  whites 
and  will  never  become  our  equals.  They  have  no 
morals.  Why,  I  have  seen  one  Jap  woman  sleepin' 
with  half  a  dozen  Jap  men. 

"'  Nobody  trusts  a  Jap.  People  who  deal  with 
them  take  crop  mortgages  on  their  product  before 
they  sell  them  anything. 

"'If  the  state  legislature  don't  enact  an  anti-alien 
law  that  keeps  the  Japs  from  ownin'  land  in  Cali 
fornia,  the  farmers  WILL  PASS  ONE.  This  ain't  a 
threat — it's  a  promise/  and  John  Reese  brought  his 
clenched  fist  down  on  the  beam  of  the  plow  with  a  bang. 

"  A  Jap  farmer  went  clattering  by  in  a  spring  wagon 
with  a  bunch  of  plow  shares,  which  he  had  bought 
at  the  Jap  store  up  the  street,  rumbling  noisily 
about  in  the  bottom  of  the  wagon. 

"John  Reese  watched  him  until  he  disappeared 
around  a  bend  in  the  road. 

"'The  Japs  have  shore  killed  Florin/  he  said  with 
a  sigh  as  he  turned  on  his  heel  and  strode  into  the 
store,  'an'  they  will  kill  every  farmin'  town  in  the 
state  of  California  if  the  legislature  don't  pass  the 
anti-alien  land  bill.'" 

In  the  same  paper  the  following  statement  was 
attributed  to  Adjutant-General  Forbes  of  the  Cali 
fornia  National  Guard: 


FACTS  ABOUT  FLORIN  81 

"  It  was  brought  to  my  attention  only  recently  that 
at  Florin  two  Japanese  mjlitajr^companies  were  drill 
ing  from  time  to  time,  that  another  company  had 
been  formed  in  the  Napa  valley  and  other  sections." 

In  Florin  I  called  on  Mr.  Landsborough,  notary 
public,  vineyardist,  and  general  manager  of  the  Florin 
Fruit  Exchange;  on  Mr.  J.  B.  Brown,  vineyardist, 
whose  daughter,  Alice  M.  Brown,  is  an  ardent  de 
fender  of  Japanese  in  Florin,  and  the  only  college 
woman  of  the  town;  on  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tootel,  pres 
ident  of  the  Florin  Fruit  Growers'  Association; 
on  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Simons,  old-time  residents  and 
successful  vineyardists;  on  Mr.  John  Reese,  store 
keeper  and  chief  opponent  of  Japanese  in  Florin, 
whose  statements  to  me  corresponded  even  verbally 
with  those  attributed  to  him  in  the  above  citation 
from  the  Sacramento  Bee.  I  also  called  on  a  vine 
yardist  and  his  wife  whose  name  I  did  not  learn. 
The  school-teacher  I  met  at  the  schoolhouse  but 
failed  to  keep  a  record  of  her  name.  The  pastor, 
Mr.  Buchner,  I  corresponded  with  but  did  not  meet. 

Of  the  Japanese,  I  met  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Suzuki;  the 
former  is  secretary  of  the  Japanese  Association  and 
the  latter  is  a  physician,  graduate  of  the  Tokyo 
Medical  School,  and  the  only  physician  in  Florin, 
Japanese  or  American.  She  accordingly  treats  also 
American  patients.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Yoshino,  inde 
pendent  vineyardists  owning  some  ten  acres,  I  found 
at  work  with  a  half  dozen  employed  Japanese,  pick- 


82       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

ing,  cleaning,  and  boxing  the  grapes.  Mr.  Yoshino's 
fruit,  both  this  season  and  the  last,  brought  the  high 
est  prices  in  the  Eastern  markets  of  any  sent  from 
Florin.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hirabara,  with  three  sturdy 
boys,  I  found  living  as  tenants  on  Mr.  Brown's 
farm.  The  managers  of  both  the  Japanese  stores  I 
met  in  their  establishments.  One  of  them  employs 
an  American  clerk. 

With  Miss  Brown  and  Mr.  Suzuki  I  was  driven 
around  Florin  in  an  automobile  for  about  three  hours, 
and  saw  enough  to  satisfy  my  curiosity  and  to  con 
vince  me  that  "the  half  bad  not  been  told."  Florin 
is  not  a  Japanese  village  either  in  appearance,  cus 
toms,  or  morals.  It  impressed  me  rather  as  a  typical 
prosperous  community  of  small  American  farmers, 
who  are  coping  successfully  with  the  problem  of 
wringing  a  living  out  of  farms  ranging  from  five  to 
fifty  acres  apiece.  Each  farm  has  its  own  modest 
house.  It  is  practically  impossible  to  tell  from  the 
road  whether  the  occupant  is  a  Japanese  or  an  Ameri 
can;  the  houses  are  not  clustered  or  huddled  together 
as  in  Japan,  but  are  widely  scattered — one  home  on 
each  farm.  Nor  could  one  tell  whether  the  houses 
were  erected  by  Japanese  or  Americans.  The  worst 
"Japanese  shacks"  are,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  owned 
by  Americans  who  expend  the  least  possible  amount 
for  the  lodgings  of  tenants;  the  appearance  of  the 
shacks  is  the  fault  of  the  owner,  not  of  the  ten 
ants.  In  my  observation,  houses  owned  by  Japa- 


FACTS  ABOUT  FLORIN  83 

nese  farmers  who  have  purchased  the  soil  are 
larger  and  better  than  houses  provided  for  tenants 
by  American  landlords.  I  saw  several  Japanese- 
owned  houses  which  were  distinctly  better  than 
many  houses  owned  and  occupied  by  whites.  The 
Japanese  in  Florin  are  already  remarkably  Amer 
icanized;  they  even  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July. 
Just  as  rapidly  as  they  acquire  economic  prosperity 
and  can  afford  it,  they  live  like  Americans  in  cloth 
ing,  food,  and  housing. 

To  avoid  repetition,  I  summarize  the  various 
statements  made  to  me  by  those  whom  I  interviewed 
in  Florin. 

The  Japanese  population  of  the  entire  district  of 
Florin  (sixteen  square  miles)  consists  of  three  hun 
dred  families,  who  average  at  present  but  one  child 
each,  and  about  one  hundred  unmarried  men.  In 
the  rush  season  additional  workers  may  bring  the 
total  Japanese  population  up  to  1,400  or  1,500. 
Nearly  all  the  regular  Japanese  residents  of  Florin 
are  members  of  the  Japanese  Association. 

The  white  population  of  Florin,  instead  of  dimin 
ishing  from  one  thousand  five  hundred  to  five  hun 
dred,  as  asserted  by  Mr.  Macfarlane,  has  increased 
during  the  past  ten  years.  Exact  statistics  seem 
inaccessible.  But  I  was  shown  a  dozen  or  more  new 
houses  erected  during  the  past  three  years  by  white 
farmers  who  have  moved  in.  Of  course  some  Amer 
icans  have  left,  but  I  was  assured  that  this  was  not 
on  account  of  Japanese  neighbors. 


84       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

Among  white  farmers  there  is  probably  no  one 
actively  opposed  to  the  Japanese.  Mr.  John  Reese, 
the  only  active  opponent,  is  a  storekeeper  and  the 
town  sheriff.  Although  he  owns  some  land,  he  has 
not  developed  a  vineyard.  Most  of  the  Florin 
farmers  are  indifferent  to  the  Japanese  question, 
taking  neither  interest  in  their  presence  nor  demand 
ing  their  departure.  Many  farmers  recognize  that 
the  business  prosperity  of  Florin  has  come  largely 
from  the  Japanese  and  are  glad  to  employ  them  and 
to  lease  or  sell  land  to  them,  as  they  give  better 
terms  than  could  be  secured  from  white  purchasers 
or  tenants. 

A  large  number  of  small  farmers  have  no  direct  or 
personal  relations  with  the  Japanese,  neither  employ 
ing  their  labor  nor  leasing  to  them  nor  regarding  or 
treating  them  as  neighbors.  Such  men,  no  doubt, 
share  the  general  antipathy  always  felt  toward  the 
unfamiliar  stranger  speaking  a  strange  language. 
Their  minds  are,  no  doubt,  poisoned  by  the  slanders 
circulated  by  a  prejudiced  press  devoted  to  the  anti- 
Japanese  propaganda. 

The  teacher  at  Florin  Center,  a  kindly  young 
woman,  replied  to  my  questions  promptly  and  with 
the  assurance  of  knowledge.  The  Japanese  in  the 
school  number  less  than  one  half;  they  are  good 
children,  obedient  and  diligent;  they  have  no  special 
faults;  there  is  no  friction  between  them  and  Amer 
ican  children;  both  races  study  and  play  happily 
together  without  constraint. 


FACTS  ABOUT  FLORIN  85 

The  white  children  have,  indeed,  diminished  in 
number  during  the  past  ten  years  and  the  Japanese 
children  have  increased;  the  reason  for  this,  how 
ever,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Reese  and  others  (not  the 
school-teacher),  is  that  the  children  in  the  older 
American  families  are  grown  up  and  the  younger 
families  are  refusing  the  responsibilities  of  parent 
age — are  practising  "race  suicide." 

The  number  of  children  in  the  school  at  Florin 
Center,  September  29,  1913,  was,  in  the  grammar- 
school,  eighteen  Americans  to  five  Japanese,  and  in 
the  primary  school,  twenty-two  whites  to  sixteen 
Japanese  and  two  negroes.  The  Elder  Creek  dis 
trict  school  has  no  Japanese,  while  the  Enterprise 
district  school  had,  on  October  8,  1913,  an  enrol 
ment  of  nineteen  American  to  five  Japanese  pupils. 

The  value  of  agricultural  land  in  and  about 
^Florin  has  steadily  increased  during  the  past  ten 
years.  On  an  average  it  has  more  than  doubled,  and 
this  independently  of  all  improvements.  One  place 
of  fifteen  acres  was  pointed  out,  bought  for  $5,000 
by  an  American  who  had  recently  moved  in.  That 
same  lot  ten  years  ago  changed  hands  for  $1,500, 
no  "improvements"  having  been  made  in  the  mean 
time  on  house  or  land. 

There  is  no  known  Japanese  prostitute  in  Florin, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  there  are  some  four  hundred 
men  permanently  resident  in  this  district.  In  the 
rush  season  several  hundred  additional  workers  come 


86       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

in,  both  men  and  women,  but  none  of  the  Ameri 
cans  whom  I  consulted,  except  Mr.  Reese,  knows 
of  any  sexual  immorality.  He  alone  vigorously  as 
serts  the  existence  of  prostitution. 

Mr.  Landsborough  stated  that  as  notary  public 
in  the  course  of  a  dozen  years  he  had  recorded  over 
four  hundred  contracts  and  that  out  of  that  number 
probably  not  more  than  five  or  six  had  not  been 
carried  out.  Even  in  those  cases  the  Japanese  had 
assumed  too  high  risks;  the  low  prices  received  for 
fruit  had  driven  the  tenant-farmer  into  bankruptcy. 

Mr.  Brown  stated  that  for  years  after  others  had 
found  Japanese  tenants  satisfactory,  he  had  con 
tinued  to  lease  his  thirty-acre  farm  to  whites;  under 
five  successive  white  men  the  place  had  continued  to 
run  down,  the  last  man  having  farmed  it  so  poorly 
that  practically  nothing  was  realized  from  the  vine 
yard.  Overcoming  race  prejudice,  he  had  finally 
leased  to  a  Japanese,  and  now  for  four  years  every 
thing  had  gone  on  satisfactorily. 

Four  American  women  stated  that  they  found  the 
Japanese  women  good  neighbors;  as  soon  as  the 
latter  become  able  to  speak  a  little  English,  social 
intercourse  is  established,  and  visits  are  exchanged 
for  the  purpose  of  learning  and  teaching.  Japanese, 
both  women  and  men,  spoke  of  the  kindness  of 
their  American  neighbors. 

I  called  at  random  on  an  American  to  see  what  he 
would  say  about  his  Japanese  neighbor  not  more 


FACTS  ABOUT  FLORIN  87 

than  a  hundred  yards  away.  Every  statement 
made,  both  by  him  and  his  wife,  was  in  harmony 
with  the  statements  made  above.  In  only  one  point 
was  the  Japanese  neighbor  criticised;  namely,  that  he 

xrmakes  a  slave  of  his  wife.  They  had  actually  "seen 
her  in  the  field  with  her  baby  on  her  back  only 
three  days  old!"  The  next  day  I  went  especially 
to  the  house  of  the  Japanese  physician,  Mrs.  Suzuki, 
to  find  out  the  general  custom  and  the  facts  in  this 
particular  case.  Mrs.  Suzuki,  it  seems,  tells  her 
maternity  cases  to  stay  abed  not  less  than  two  weeks 
after  childbirth,  and  not  to  go  out  of  the  house  under 
three  weeks.  As  to  this  particular  case,  she  could 
say  nothing,  as  she  had  only  come  to  town  some  fif 
teen  months  before.  Further  inquiry  elsewhere  re 
vealed  the  fact  that  the  American  making  the  above 
assertion  had  moved  into  this  region  and  had  bought 
his  place  less  than  a  year  ago,  while  the  youngest 
child  of  the  Japanese  neighbor  was  over  a  year  and 
a  half  old.  Evidently  there  wras  a  mistake  in  mem 
ory  or  observation. 
This  "testimony,"  by  the  way,  well  illustrates 

/•how  anti- Japanese  stories  get  started  by  "eye 
witnesses."  This  Japanese  neighbor,  I  learned,  is 
one  of  the  most  respected  and  successful  men  of  the 
community.  Besides  running  his  farm,  which  he 
owns,  and  securing  in  Eastern  markets  the  best 
prices  on  his  grapes  of  any  vineyardist  of  Florin,  he 
is  treasurer  of  the  Japanese  Association  and  partner 


88       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

in  one  of  the  stores.  He  is  educated  and  refined, 
living  in  a  good  house  in  Western  style. 

The  assertion  that  "at  Florin  two  military  com 
panies  drill  from  time  to  time"  is,  as  Mr.  Landsbor- 
ough  stated,  laughable.  From  a  material  standpoint 
such  drilling  would  be  impossible  without  the  knowl 
edge  of  many  whites,  for  the  two  races  everywhere 
live  side  by  side;  there  is  no  possible  secret  hall  or 
concealed  drill  grounds.  And,  from  the  psycholog 
ical  standpoint,  the  drilling  is  absolutely  incredible 
to  one  who  knows  the  Japanese  and  the  entire  situ 
ation.  This  is  a  sample  of  the  stories  invented  and 
circulated  for  the  promotion  of  race  antagonism. 

The  Alien  Land  Law  hits  Florin  hard.  Develop 
ment  of  new  vineyards  is  now  out  of  the  question, 
for  American  farmers  will  not  handle  the  strawberry 
proposition,  so  important  during  the  five  years  when 
the  vineyard  is  getting  started,  while  the  Japanese 
cannot  do  it  on  a  three-year  lease,  which  is  all  the 
law  allows. 

Finally,  some  at  least  of  the  farmers  at  Florin  are 
indignant  at  the  way  in  which  their  district  has  been 
misrepresented  to  the  world  at  large.  Farmers  from 
other  districts  may  desire  alien  land  laws  limiting 
Japanese  economic  opportunity;  but  Florin  can 
not  be  honestly  cited  as  unanimously  desiring  such 
laws.  Seven  representative  citizens  (Messrs.  Lands- 
horough,  Tootel,  Briner,  Merwin,  Feil,  and  Miss 
Brown,  all  vineyardists,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Buchner, 


FACTS  ABOUT  FLORL  89 

pastor  of  the  Florin  church)  went  to  Sacramento, 
some  of  them  two  and  three  times,  in  order  to  put 
before  the  legislature,  Governor  Johnson,  Secretary 
Bryan,  and  the  public  generally,  the  real  views  and^ 
desires  of  Florin  fanners,  but  failed.  Communica 
tions  sent  to  Sacramento  papers  setting  forth  the 
Japanese  situation  in  Florin  from  the  view-point 
of  these  farmers  were  declined.  Newspaper  corre 
spondents  came  to  Florin,  like  Mr.  Macfarlane,  who 
wrote  up  the  situation  for__C 'oilier 's  Weekly,  but  in 
stead  of  impartially  seeking  for  the  facts  they  eagerly 
listened  to  the  stories  of  Mr.  Reese,  apparently 
swallowing  all  he  said,  for  they  heralded  to  the  world 
his  view  of  the  case  as  gospel  truth. 

When  Governor  Johnson  and  Secretary  Bryan 
came  to  Florin,  Mr.  Reese,  already  known  for 
anti-Japanese  attitude,  was  chosen  by  Governor 
Johnson  to  be  their  guide  and  instructor,  while  Mr. 
Landsborough,  known  to  Governor  Johnson  as  pro- 
Japanese,  was  turned  aside.  These  facts,  told  me 
by  the  Florin  farmers  themselves,  have  convinced 
me  that  part  at  least  of  the  anti-Japanese  agit'ation 
in  California  is  one-sided  to  say  the  least. 

This  statement  of  what  I  found  at  Florin  must 
suffice.  The  good  people  of  California  have  been 
misled  in  regard  to  the  facts.  If  Florin  is  a  typical 
instance  of  the  evils  wrought  by  Japanese  farmers, 
then  the  anti-Japanese  argument,  so  far  as  the  agri 
cultural  situation  is  concerned,  is  not  very  strong. 


CHAPTER  VI 
JAPANESE  EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM 

FOR  a  comprehensive  understanding  of  the  actual 
situation  in  California,  we  should  know  somewhat  in 
detail  the  efforts  of  Japanese  themselves  to  meet 
the  difficulties  and  solve  the  problems.  To  a  degree 
that  few  Americans  appreciate,  there  are  wise  and 
noble  leaders  among  them,  and  movements  are  under 
way  of  great  importance  and  promise. 

Among  the  potent  forces  working  for  the  social, 
economic,  and  moral  uplift  of  the  Japanese  in  Cal 
ifornia  are  the  fifty  odd  organizations  called  the 
Japanese  Association  of .  One  such  organiza 
tion  is  found  in  each  centre  of  Japanese  population. 
The  leading  Japanese  of  that  region  are  members, 
paying  monthly  membership  fees  of  from  twenty- 
five  cents  to  three  dollars.  These  fifty  associations, 
averaging  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  members  and 
having  each  its  own  board  of  directors  and  one  or 
more  salaried  secretaries,  are  federated  in  a  single 
body  called  the  Japanese  Association  of  America,  of 
which  Mr.  K.  S.  Inui  is  the  general  secretary,  having 
its  headquarters  in  San  Francisco  at  1436  Post  Street. 
Upon  these  local  and  central  secretaries  falls  the 

90 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM         91 

brunt  of  the  work.  In  the  local  offices  are  kept  all 
records  of  arrivals,  marriages,  births,  deaths,  etc. 
In  cases  of  difficulty  or  misunderstanding  between 
Japanese  laborers  and  American  or  other  employers, 
the  secretary  seeks  to  find  the  source  of  the  difficulty 
and  to  remove  the  same  by  friendly  mediation.  The 
writer  was  informed  by  the  secretary  of  the  Oakland 
association  that  a  large  majority  of  the  difficulties 
between  Americans  and  Japanese  arose  through  mis 
understandings  due  to  ignorance  of  each  other's  lan 
guage. 

In  order  to  promote  mutual  understanding  be 
tween  the  races,  the  national  association  from  time 
to  time  publishes  in  English,  for  free  distribution, 
pertinent  articles  and  pamphlets.  It  also  issues,  in 
Japanese,  suggestions  of  various  kinds  calculated  to 
promote  both  economic  prosperity  and  the  under 
standing  of  American  people  and  life. 

A  particular  instance  of  the  work  done  by  these 
associations  is  of  special  interest  to  Americans  and 
merits  detailed  description.  This  is  the  so-called 
"picture-bride"  movement.  As  has  been  often 
noted,  practically  all  Japanese  immigrants  have  been 
unmarried  young  men  who  came  to  this  country 
with  the  expectation  of  an  early  return  to  Japan, 
hoping,  of  course,  to  take  back  with  them  fat  pocket- 
books.  Up  to  1904  the  percentage  of  female  immi 
grants  varied  from  4  per  cent  to  10  per  cent,  the 
average  for  nineteen  years  being  6.8  per  cent.  In 


92       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

1905,  however,  the  percentage  of  females  suddenly 
advanced  to  17.7  per  cent,  remaining  at  that  rate 
for  four  years.  In  1909  a  new  rate  was  established, 
females  outnumbered  the  males,  the  percentage  for 
that  year  being  53.5  per  cent  and  for  1911,  69.2 
per  cent.  During  the  year  1912  the  number  of 
"picture  brides"  who  arrived  at  San  Francisco  and 
were  there  married  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  was  826  (this  figure  was  given  by 
the  immigration  office). 

Now  the  average  suspicious  anti-Japanese  critic 
puts  a  sinister  interpretation  on  these  facts.  He 
argues,  for  instance,  that  wives  so  secured  are  not 
real  wives;  they  are  rather  "a  device  of  the  cunning 
Jap  to  get  around  the  immigration  laws."  It  is 
needless,  however,  to  state  at  length  the  unkind  in 
sinuations  flung  at  the  Japanese  in  this  connection. 

From  the  familiarity  with  their  marriage  customs 
and  with  the  details  of  the  procedure  in  connection 
with  such  marriages  gained  by  many  years  spent 
in  Japan,  the  writer  is  satisfied  that  sinister  in 
terpretations  are  unjustified.  The  procedure  is  as 
follows:  A  Japanese  young  man  attains  sufficient 
prosperity,  on  the  one  hand,  to  desire  to  settle  down 
in  this  land  permanently  and,  on  the  other,  to  sup 
port  a  family.  And  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Japanese 
have  strong  family  instincts.  A  roving  life  does  not 
satisfy  them.  The  average  young  man,  however, 
does  not  have  the  means  for  a  visit  to  his  homeland 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM         93 

in  search  of  a  bride  and  he  has  little  taste  or  oppor 
tunity  for  a  mate  to  be  found  in  America,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  California  law  which  forbids  the 
marriage  of  whites  with  Mongolians.  He  naturally 
writes  to  his  home-folks,  who,  as  they  would  do  were 
he  in  Japan,  proceed  to  hunt  out  some  suitable  girl// 
among  their  acquaintances.  Having  found  her,  his 
picture  is  shown  her  and  hers  is  sent  to  him,  each 
being  given  information  with  regard  to  the  other. 
The  procedure  thus  far  is  identical  with  that  in 
Japan.  Before  the  final  step,  namely  legal  mar 
riage,  the  two  parties  usually,  though  not  even  yet 
universally,  have  an  opportunity  to  see  each  other, 
and  assent  to  the  arrangement  made  by  parents  and 
go-betweens. 

For  many  years,  however,  the  Japanese  Govern 
ment  has  been  granting  passports  to  no  emigrants 
without  the  closest  investigation.  And  because 
Japanese  so-called  "  white-slave "  traders  have  ex^/ 
ported  not  a  few  Japanese  girls  for  immoral  purposes, 
the  government  has,  for  several  years,  refused  to  give 
passports  to  women  merely  on  the  statement  that 
their  prospective  husbands  are  living  in  some  other 
land.  In  order  to  satisfy  itself,  the  government  now 
requires  that  every  young  man  in  America,  before 
getting  a  wife  from  Japan,  must  apply  to  the  Consul- 
General  in  San  Francisco,  who  shall  issue  a  certificate 
only  after  full  investigation. 

At  this  point  comes  in  the  work  of  the  Japanese 


94       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

Association.  The  Japanese  consulate  requires  that 
each  applicant  for  a  permit  for  a  prospective  wife 
must  first  apply  to  the  secretary  of  the  Japanese 
Association  of  which  he  is  a  member.  The  secretary 
must  look  carefully  into  the  business,  the  moral 
character,  and  personal  life  of  the  applicant.  He 
must  find  out,  directly  and  indirectly,  whether  the 
applicant  is  financially  able  and  morally  competent 
to  assume  family  responsibilities.  The  secretary  re 
ports  his  findings  to  the  consulate  in  San  Francisco 
and  the  latter  reports  the  result  to  the  government 
in  Tokyo,  which  then  issues  a  passport  to  the  girl 
whose  fiance  has  been  thus  investigated  and  ap 
proved. 

Before  the  woman  leaves  Japan  her  police  regis 
tration  is  changed  to  that  of  the  prospective  hus 
band's  family,  which  alone  constitutes  legal  marriage 
in  Japan,  and  she  receives  his  name.  On  arrival  in 
San  Francisco  she  is  met  at  the  immigration  office  by 
her  prospective  husband,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
American  officer  each  acknowledges  the  relation 
of  husband  and  wife.  The  American  Government 
does  not,  however,  recognize  a  Japanese  marriage 
contracted  under  these  circumstances,  but  requires 
that  the  couple  shall  be  married  by  a  minister  of 
religion — Christian  or  Buddhist.  This  ceremony 
performed  and  duly  certified  and  registered,  the 
couple  are  free  to  go  to  their  home. 

Although  this  method  of  finding  mates  is  far  from 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM         95 

satisfactory  to  the  parties  concerned,  including  the 
secretaries  and  Consul-General,  under  the  conditions 
imposed  by  the  " gentlemen's  agreement"  no  other 
method  seems  practicable. 

The  writer  not  only  confesses  that  he  sees  nothing 
to  criticise  in  this  procedure,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
regards  it  as  exceedingly  wise  and  well  calculated^ 
under  the  circumstances,  to  secure  the  best  possible 
results.  The  marriages,  as  a  rule,  are  successful, 
only  about  one  per  cent  thus  far  having  ended  in 
divorce.  The  secretaries  inform  me  that  they  find  it 
necessary  to  refuse  a  substantial  proportion  of  the 
applicants — varying  from  ten  to  thirty  per  cent. 
Some  of  these  refusals  are  based  on  moral  grounds; 
e.  g.,  the  applicant  is  discovered  to  be  a  gambler  or 
a  dissolute  man.  In  case  the  difficulty  is  economic, 
the  applicant  is  recommended  to  wait  for  a  time 
and  after  better  financial  preparation  to  renew  his 
application. 

Certainly  it  is  far  better  for  these  young  men  to 
secure  Japanese  wives  and  rear  Japanese  families 
than  to  remain  in  relatively  irresponsible  freedom,  or 
to  enter  into  less  desirable  relations.  And  it  is  also 
far  better  for  the  country  to  have  these  Japanese 
immigrants  settling  down  in  permanent  family  re 
lationships  than  to  have  them  remain  in  permanent 
irresponsible  hoboism. 

It  may  be  well  to  state  at  this  point  that  it  is  the 
thought  of  neither  the  Japanese  Government  nor 


96       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

the  individuals  concerned  that  this  "picture-bride" 
movement  is  "a  sly  device  for  eluding  immigration 
regulations."  The  motives  involved  are,  on  the  con 
trary,  highly  creditable  to  Japanese  manhood — the 
desire  to  have  and  rear  families.  Japanese  fondness 
for  children  is  one  of  the  many  admirable  traits  of 
that  race,  and  puts  to  shame  the  race-suicide  ten 
dencies  of  not  a  few  Americans  who,  indeed,  consti 
tute  "undesirable  citizens." 

The  members  of  the  Japanese  Associations  in  each 
locality  represent  the  best  elements  of  that  race. 
They  are  constantly  seeking  to  promote  the  good  and 
eliminate  the  bad  among  their  people.  The  writer 
recently  heard  of  a  case  of  difficulty  which  was  on  the 
point  of  getting  into  the  local  courts.  The  Jap 
anese  Association  took  up  the  matter  and  secured 
the  departure  to  Japan  of  the  individual  concerned, 
and  the  extraordinary  police  supervision  which  the 
government  has  over  every  individual  in  Japan 
makes  it  certain  that  he  will  never  secure  a  passport 
to  return  to  the  United  States. 

All  in  all,  then,  the  work  and  leadership  of  the 
Japanese  Associations  are  highly  commendable  and 
promise  well  for  the  future. 

In  addition  to  the  Japanese  Associations,  there  are 
other  organizations  whose  aim  is  more  restricted, 
either  economic  or  social.  For  instance,  there  is 
the  Japanese  Producers'  Association.  It  was  organ 
ized  in  1908  by  a  "majority  of  the  tenant  farmers 


Interior  of  the  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tanaka  of  Florin.  Note  the  map  of  the  State  of 
California  on  the  wall:  also  the  picture  beside  it,  the  hard-wood  floor,  the  rug,  chairs, 
books  and  phonograph.  Is  this  a  "shack?"' 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM         97 

between  Vorden  and  Isleton,  on  both  sides  of  the 
Sacramento."  Its  aims  are  stated  to  be  "to  ad 
vance  the  interests,  uphold  the  dignity  and  protect 
the  happiness  of  the  members  and  of  the  Japanese 
in  general.  ...  To  assist  in  improving  and  ameli 
orating  their  moral,  social,  and  economic  conditions. 
...  To  maintain  and  insure  cordiality  between 
landlord  and  tenant,  thus  guaranteeing  against  all  un 
necessary  misunderstanding  between  them.  ...  In 
case  of  dispute  between  landlord  and  tenant,  to  act 
as  arbitrators  and  mediators  with  a  view  to  seeing 
justice  done  to  both  parties.  ...  To  take  a  united 
and  decisive  stand  against  all  unscrupulous  parties 
and  irresponsible  tenants.  ...  To  make  a  concerted 
effort  to  procure  for  this  section,  the  best  quality  of 
Japanese  labor  available,  in  order  more  effectively 
to  develop  the  fertile  bottoms  now  so  scantily 
populated."  And  in  conclusion  we  find  this  inter 
esting  appeal:  "Should  you  happen  to  entertain  a 
shadow  of  a  grievance  against  one  Japanese  tenant, 
be  good  enough  to  inform  us  of  the  particulars  and 
we  will  be  only  too  glad  to  investigate  and  rectify 
the  matter." 

Mention  may  also  be  made  of  the  Japanese 
Farmers'  Association  on  the  San  Joaquin  River. 
This  association  devotes,  special  attention  to  the 
scientific  aspects  of  farming  as  well  as  to  other 
matters  of  interest  to  its  members.  It  publishes  in 
Japanese  a  monthly  magazine  of  educational  value 


98       THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

to  its  farming  clientage  and  also  conducts  a  "Ques 
tion  Department." 

"More  than  70  per  cent  of  the  individual  farmers 
in  this  district  belong  to  one  or  the  other  of  these 
two  associations." 

Another  form  of  association  of  the  Japanese  are 
the  so-called  Prefectural  Clubs.  Membership  here 
is  limited  to  those  who  have  come  from  a  single 
province  in  Japan,  for  Japanese  have  quite  dis 
tinct  local  historical  interests,  and  in  some  cases 
even  linguistic  and  social  characteristics  dependent 
on  the  sections  of  Japan  in  which  they  were  reared. 
Such  interests  are  utilized  by  these  "clubs"  for  the 
promotion  of  good  fellowship  and  mutual  helpful 
ness. 

In  Los  Angeles  there  is  a  Producers'  Associa 
tion  to  meet  the  special  economic  needs  of  the  large 
number  of  small  farmers.  It  not  only  aids  them 
in  disposing  advantageously  of  their  produce,  but 
seeks  to  find  tenants  for  unoccupied  lands,  to  aid 
would-be  tenants  with  regard  to  available  lands,  and 
to  promote  co-operative  marketing. 

No  more  important  or  significant  work  is  being 
done  for  the  Americanization  of  Japanese  residents 
in  California  than  that  of  those  Christian  Japanese 
who  are  associated  in  the  Dendodan,  the  Inter- 
Denominational  Evangelistic  Board. 

This  union  organization  was  effected  in  1911  in 
order  to  quicken  the  life  of  the  Christians  them- 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM         99 

selves  and  help  them  feel  their  responsibility  for 
carrying  the  gospel  to  their  fellow  countrymen  who 
have  as  yet  had  no  opportunity  to  hear  the  "good 
news."  The  Dendodan  finds  that  there  are  large 
neglected  regions.  Careful  statistics  have  been 
gathered  showing  that  there  are  twenty-seven  dis 
tricts,  having  a  Japanese  population  of  19,027,  wholly 
without  Christian  services  of  any  kind.  This  soci 
ety  raises  money  and  sends  the  pastors  on  preaching 
tours  through  these  neglected  regions.  This  move 
ment  springs  from  the  conviction  that  only  through 
the  gospel  and  the  change  of  heart  produced  can 
the  Japanese  in  America  become  truly  adapted  to 
the  new  life  here  and  enter  cordially  into  our  civili 
zation  and  finally  be  welcomed  by  Americans. 

The  results  already  secured  have  been  highly 
gratifying.  Evangelistic  services  have  led  to  marked 
changes  of  attitude  in  many  individuals  who  hitherto 
have  been  antagonistic  to  Christianity  and  resent 
ful  toward  Americans  who  were  all  regarded  as 
Christians. 

So  valuable  is  the  direct  evangelistic  work  felt  to 
be  by  leaders  in  the  Japanese  Associations  for  pro 
moting  right  relations  between  Japanese  and  Amer 
icans  that  these  associations,  though  non-religious, 
have  nevertheless  provided  the  Dendodan  with  sub 
stantial  financial  gifts. 

This  movement  is  one  which  should  be  encouraged 
and  strongly  supported.  Even  from  a  selfish  stand- 


100    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

point,  what  better  way  can  there  be  of  overcoming 
the  narrow  nationalism  of  Japanese  immigrants  and 
putting  them  into  sympathetic  relations  with  their 
neighbors  than  by  leading  them  to  become  Chris 
tians.  Such  a  change  will,  of  course,  transform 
their  moral  standards  and  render  them  better  work 
ers,  more  amenable  to  American  moral  standards, 
and  better  liked,  therefore,  by  Americans. 

It  is  doubtful  if  the  immigrants  from  any  other 
land  are  as  alert  as  those  from  Japan  in  the  use  of 
the  press  for  the  promotion  of  their  interests.  Is  there 
any  other  national  group  in  America  which,  in  pro 
portion  to  its  numbers,  supports  so  many  publica 
tions?  With  a  population  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  less 
than  sixty-five  thousand  there  are  five  or  six  dailies 
and  several  monthly  publications.  The  Christians 
publish  and  support  a  magazine,  called  Shin  Tenchi 
(New  Heaven  and  Earth);  and  reference  has  already 
been  made  to  the  magazine  published  by  the  Farm 
ers'  Association  on  the  San  Joaquin.  Although  these 
papers  are  not  always  entirely  free  from  objection 
able  material,  at  times  following  the  lead  of  the  "yel 
low  press,"  yet  the  writer  is  assured  by  those  who 
are  good  judges  that,  on  the  whole,  the  leadership  of 
the  Japanese  press  is  wholesome. 

A  significant  item  may  be  cited  in  this  connection. 
In  the  fall  of  1912  a  daily  paper  was  established  in 
San  Francisco  called  the  Kokumin  (Nationalist). 
Its  fundamental  aim  was  to  arouse  the  spirit  of  Jap- 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM       101 

anese  nationalism  in  California  and  to  consolidate 
the  Japanese  opposition  to  American  race  preju 
dice.  So  little,  however,  did  it  succeed  in  finding, 
response  that  it  died  a  natural  death  in  the  course 
of  the  next  six  months  through  lack  of  paying  sub 
scribers. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  English  language  is 
probably  more  difficult  of  acquisition  by  the  Jap 
anese  than  by  any  other  race,  for  the  same  reason 
that  the  Japanese  language  is  the  most  difficult 
foreign  language  with  which  Occidentals  have  to 
grapple,  yet  careful  examination  shows  that  Jap 
anese  are  the  most  persistent  of  all  immigrants  in 
learning  English. 

This,  indeed,  might  be  expected  in  view  of  the 
relatively  large  proportion  of  " students"  among 
those  who  come  from  Japan.  Out  of  a  total  of 
9,544  immigrants  arriving  in  1908,  the  last  year 
before  the  enforcement  of  the  "gentlemen's  agree 
ment,"  2,018  were  classified  as  "  students."  Due  to 
the  stringent  interpretation  of  the  term,  as  excluding 
all  who  must  work  for  a  living,  the  number  at  once 
fell  to  153,  255,  239,  288,  and  260  in  the  five  years 
following.  In  the  report  of  the  Immigration  Com 
mission  (vol.  23,  pp.  146,  148),  giving  statistics  as 
to  resident  Japanese  who  can  speak  English,  we  find 
that  64.7  per  cent  are  reported  as  able  to  speak  En^ 
glish.  Of  those  who  had  been  in  California  under 
five  years,  58.1  per  cent;  between  five  and  nine 


102    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

years,  70.7  per  cent,  and  over  ten  years,  82.6  per 
cent  could  speak  English. 

After  giving  many  tables  of  comparative  statistics, 
the  report  reviews  the  whole  field  of  literacy,  from 
which  we  quote  the  following  significant  statements : 

"Compared  to  other  races  employed  in  similar 
kinds  of  work  in  similar  industries,  the  Japanese  ap 
pear  to  have  progressed  more  rapidly  than  most 
v/  other  races,  especially  the  Chinese  and  Mexicans. 
.  .  .  The  differences  between  the  Japanese  and 
some  of  the  other  races  with  regard  to  the  learning 
of  English  are  so  great,  however,  as  to  justify  the 
statement  that  the  Japanese  have  acquired  the  use 
of  the  English  language  more  quickly  and  more 
eagerly  than  the  Chinese  the  Mexicans  and  some 
of  the  European  races." 

The  report  also  refers  to  the  "numerous  schools 
maintained  for  the  benefit  of  adult  immigrants.  No 
less  than  thirty-three,  the  primary  aim  of  which  is 
to  instruct  adult  Japanese  in  the  English  language, 
were  reported  by  agents  of  the  Commission." 

These  facts  as  to  Japanese  acquisition  of  English 
throw  significant  light  on  the  question  of  their 
assimilability. 

When  word  came  to  Japan  in  March  and  April 
that  no  less  than  thirty-four  bills  had  been  intro 
duced  into  the  California  State  legislature  pro 
posing  to  limit  and  hamper  the  freedom  of  Japanese 
residents  in  that  State,  bills  some  of  which  were 
grossly  unjust  and  all  of  them  apparently  in  clear 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM       103 

conflict  with  the  spirit  of  friendship  proclaimed  by 
all  Japanese-American  treaties,  a  wave  of  indignation 
swept  through  the  newspaper-reading  section  of  the 
nation.  A  few  hotheads,  such  as  may  be  found  in 
any  land,  demanded  of  the  government  prompt 
action  and,  in  case  of  failure  to  secure  redress  by 
the  regular  channels  of  diplomacy,  readiness  to  push 
the  case  even  to  the  point  of  war. 

The  sober  sense  of  the  nation,  however,  though 
intensely  pained  by  the  insult  received,  saw  clearly 
that  such  methods  would  be  futile,  tending  rather 
to  aggravate  the  difficulty.  They  counselled  a  calm 
course.  In  substance  they  said:  "Let  the  Foreign 
Office,  of  course,  pursue  the  usual  remedial  methods 
when  matters  of  difficulty  arise.  But  in  addition 
to  that,  let  experienced  and  sober  representatives  of 
the  people  go  to  America  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  careful  examination  of  the  situation.  It  is  not  to 
be  assumed  that  California  wantonly  insults  Japan 
or  proposes  discriminatory  legislation  without  any 
cause.  Let  wise  counsellors  go  to  California  and, 
after  a  careful  study  of  the  whole  situation,  let  them 
counsel  Japanese  residents  in  California  and  let 
them  also  report  to  us  in  Japan  what  they  find,  in 
order  that  they  and  we  may  co-operate  to  remove 
the  causes  of  difficulty  which  have  led  to  this  unfor 
tunate  situation." 

This  wise  and  sober  counsel  prevailed.  The  details 
of  the  diplomatic  controversy  have  not  been  dis- 


104    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

closed;  indeed,  at  this  writing  the  negotiations  are 
not  yet  completed.  But  without  waiting  for  the 
success  or  failure  of  diplomacy,  three  men  eminent 
in  national  affairs  were  despatched  to  the  United 
States  by  different  political  parties,  in  order  to  study 
the  facts  on  the  ground,  hear  both  sides,  counsel 
their  fellow  countrymen  in  California,  and  provide 
a  solid  basis  of  knowledge  for  the  whole  people. 

Surely,  we  must  accord  to  the  Japanese  political 
parties  the  praise  of  great  wisdom  and  calmness. 
What  American  political  party  would  have  been 
willing,  in  a  time  of  national  excitement,  to  adopt 
this  slow,  painstaking  method  of  investigation? 
Would  not  our  yellow  press  have  inflamed  the  popu 
lar  mind  to  such  an  extent  that  calm,  statesmanlike 
action  on  the  part  of  the  political  parties  would  have 
been  impossible?  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  method 
adopted  by  Japanese  political  parties  is  above  re 
proach  in  this  matter,  at  least. 

Hon.  A.  Hattori,  of  the  Kokuminto  (National 
party),  and  a  member  of  the  Diet;  Mr.  J.  Soyeda, 
of  the  Nichibei  Doshikai  (Japan-America  One-aim 
Society),  and  Hon.  S.  Ebara,  of  the  Seiyukai  (Con 
stitutional  Society)  and  life  member  by  Imperial 
appointment  of  the  House  of  Peers,  were  selected  by 
their  respective  parties  for  this  duty.  The  choices 
are  significant.  Mr.  Hattori  was  at  one  time  a 
Presbyterian  pastor  in  San  Francisco.  For  the  bet 
ter  proclamation  of  the  gospel,  he  entered  politics 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM      105 

and  has  become  a  powerful  political  force.  Mr. 
Soyeda  is  one  of  Japan's  leading  bankers,  and  was 
formerly  a  vice-minister  of  finance.  Hon.  Ebara, 
now  seventy  years  of  age,  has  led  a  remarkable  life. 
When,  in  the  sixties,  all  the  foreign  diplomats  left 
Tokyo  because  of  the  fear  of  assassination,  our 
American  minister  alone  remained,  saying  he  would 
trust  the  Japanese  Government  and  people.  It  was 
his  habit  to  ride  out  on  horseback,  unarmed  and 
unattended,  indeed  a  dangerous  thing  to  do  at  that 
time.  Young  Ebara  was  so  impressed  by  the  cour 
age  and  spirit  of  the  man  that  he  secured  an  appoint 
ment  from  the  Shogun  to  act  as  Mr.  Harris's  per 
sonal  guard.  From  that  time  to  this  Mr.  Ebara 
has  been  an  ardent  admirer  of  America.  He  early 
/became  a  Christian  and  through  a  long  and  active, 
often  exciting,  political  career,  has  led  a  consistent 
Christian  life,  seeking  especially  through  education 
to  bring  his  people  to  a  knowledge  of  the  West.  He 
was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of 
the  Imperial  Diet;  some  three  years  ago,  however,  he 
was  appointed  by  the  Emperor  to  the  House  of 
Peers,  which  is  a  life  appointment.  Is  it  not  a  sig 
nificant  fact  that  when  Japanese  political  parties 
sought  for  men  to  study  the  California  problem  they 
should  pick  out  three  such  men  rather  than  well- 
known  belligerent  jingoists? 

These  men,  with  the  secretaries,  came,  spent  from 
two  to  three  months  each  in  their  work  here,  and 


106    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

are  now  back  in  Japan.  While  in  Honolulu,  and  also 
on  the  mainland,  these  gentlemen,  of  course,  spoke 
on  many  occasions  to  their  fellow  countrymen. 
Their  counsels  were  sane  and  sober.  The  following 
abstract  of  Mr.  Hattori's  address  in  Honolulu,  taken 
from  The  Friend,  will  indicate  something  of  his  spirit 
and  thought: 

"He  made  four  most  impressive  and  striking 
points:  first,  every  Japanese  in  Hawaii  should  be 
true  to  his  fatherland  and  unswerving  in  his  devo 
tion  to  his  Emperor;  second,  every  Japanese  settled 
here  in  permanency  should  become  an  American 
citizen  if  possible;  third,  such  a  change  of  allegiance 
is  not  evidence  of  loss  of  patriotism  and  will  entail 
no  injury  to  one's  national  individuality.  Indeed, 
it  will  broaden  that  individuality  into  true  cosmo- 
politanship.  Such  an  honorable  change  of  citizen 
ship  only  argues  a  higher  patriotism,  while  the  deeper 
the  patriotic  devotion  the  better  fitted  the  man  will 
be  for  citizenship  in  another  country:  fourth,  if 
after  change  of  allegiance  from  Japan  to  America, 
war  between  the  two  nations  should  come,  the  truer 
the  Japanese,  the  more  valorously  he  will  fight  for 
America,  thus  exemplifying  the  genuine  spirit  of 
honor  which  Japan  inspires  in  her  children." 1 

The  editorial  comment  on  this  address  added: 
"The  American  papers  gave  only  the  first  of  the 
above  four  points  in  their  report  of  Mr.  Hattori's 
address,  thus  conveying  exactly  the  opposite  im 
pression  of  the  import  of  his  remarks.  As  time 
elapses,  we  cannot  help  feeling  that  Japan,  as  a 

1  The  Friend,  Honolulu,  June,  1913. 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM       107 

whole,  shows  a  disposition  to  treat  this  episode  in 
the  spirit  of  Christ,  while  America  is  debating  it  to 
no  small  degree  from  the  standpoint  of  Mammon." 
Mr.  Soyeda  prepared,  in  English,  a  "Survey  of 
the  Japanese  Question  in  California,"  which  was 
published  in  August,  shortly  after  his  return  to 
Japan.  Though  the  survey  covers  sixteen  pages, 
it  is  comprehensive  and  statesmanlike.  It  evinces 
acquaintance  with  all  the  charges  brought  against 
the  Japanese  in  California,  and  suggests,  in  the  brief 
est  words,  some  reply.  The  solution  proposed  is 
"better  mutual  acquaintance,"  for  there  is  still  much 
misunderstanding  and  misrepresentation.  There  are 
some  things  to  be  done  by  both  governments  and 
there  are  some  things  to  be  done  by  the  Japanese 
themselves  both  in  America  and  in  Japan.  In 
America,  for  instance,  the  Japanese  are  counselled 
to  "strive  more  and  more  for  assimilation  with  the 
people  and  observance  of  the  laws  and  customs  of 
the  land.  .  .  .  They  must  work  strenuously  to  rem 
edy  their  faults  and  do  nothing  to  startle  or  irri 
tate  the  people  with  whom  they  are  living  .  .  .  self- 
help  is,  after  all,  the  best  help.  .  .  .  Children  born 
in  the  States  must  be  carefully  looked  after,  so  that 
their  future  may  be  assured  and  they  may  become 
good  citizens  of  the  Great  Republic."  There  are 
many  details  in  regard  to  which  Mr.  Soyeda  gives 
suggestions  to  Japanese  in  California,  and  to  those 
in  Japan  he  commends  "patience  and  careful  con- 


108    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

sideration."  In  conclusion  he  urges  "campaigns  of 
education  along  permanent  and  broad  lines  with  the 
aim  to  enlighten  the  public  opinion,  not  only  in  the 
two  countries  concerned,  but  all  the  world  over." 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  this  pamphlet  the 
California  Examiner  (October  2,  1913)  referred  to  it 
in  an  editorial  whose  spirit  and  language  are  in 
dicated  by  the  following  quotations:  "It  is  with 
thankfulness,  gratitude,  humility  and  a  deep  sense 
of  being  properly  rebuked  that  we  receive  this  ful- 
mination  of  the  Hon.  Juichi.  We  shall  not  self 
ishly  enjoy  this  feast  of  reason  and  flow  of  language 
alone.  At  least  half  of  it  shall  be  fed  to  the  office 
cat — may  his  venerable  whiskers  flourish  forever! 
The  other  moiety  will  be  forwarded  to  a  noted  pro- 
Japanese  American  statesman,  who  engages  in  lec 
turing,  breeding  doves,  and  Secretarying  of  State 
with  equal  grace,  facility  and  financial  success.  In 
a  general  way,  Honorable  Pamphlet  informs  us  that 
Honorable  Japanese  is  truly  morally  superior  to 
unfortunate  American  inhabitableness,  being  truth, 
firmness,  uprightness  and  faithfulness  in  gentle 
men's  agreement,  therefore  is  perfectly  agreeable  to 
naturalization  and  intermarriage,  which  afford  happy 
solution  to  Honorable  Immigration  Question  not  yet 
impacted  upon  yellow  American  press." 

This  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  insolent  treatment 
by  our  yellow  press  of  a  courteous  discussion  of 
our  international  problem  by  one  who  has  devoted 


EFFORlo     .LVE  MIE  PROBLEM   109 

months  to  its  careful  study.  As  indicating  the  at 
titude  of  a  considerable  number  of  Californians  to 
ward  Japanese  in  general,  this  editorial  is  an  omi 
nous  sign  of  the  times. 

Hon.  Mr.  Ebara,  not  being  a  ready  speaker  of 
English,  confined  his  utterances  to  the  Japanese 
language.  His  addresses,  however,  to  his  fellow 
countrymen  in  California  are  reported  to  have  been 
exceedingly  helpful  in  quieting  those  who  were  tend 
ing  to  become  excited  and  in  the  promotion  of  sane 
methods  for  the  attainment  of  international  good 
will. 

In  an  interview  granted  to  the  writer  the  day  pre- 
-ceding  his  departure  for  Japan,  Mr.  Ebara  disclosed 
the  fairness  of  his  attitude  by  many  significant  re 
marks.  He  recognized  that  in  this  problem  the 
Japanese  have  their  share  of  the  blame  to  carry. 
There  are,  no  doubt,  many  individual  Japanese 
immigrants  who  have  displayed  those  unfortunate 
characteristics  with  which  all  Japanese  are  now 
charged.  The  Japanese  Government  made  a  great 
blunder  when  it  allowed  such  large  numbers  of  the 
/very  lowest  classes  in  Japan  to  go,  first,  to  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  and,  later,  to  California.  Es 
pecially  harmful  to  right  relations  between  Amer 
icans  and  Japanese  is  the  Buddhist  mission  in 
America.  Buddhist  priests  teach  narrow  patriot 
ism  and  perpetuate  many  of  the  worst  features  of 
Buddhist  practice.  They  alienate  Americans  and 


110    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

hinder  Japanese  from  taking  on  American  ideals 
and  customs.  These  opinions  Mr.  Ebara  has  been 
proclaiming  in  Japan.  A  long  article  in  one  of  the 
influential  papers  of  Osaka,  discussing  the  respon 
sibility  for  the  Japanese  situation  in  California  says 
that  it  largely  rests  on  the  Japanese  themselves. 
Buddhist  priests  are  especially  responsible.  An 
editorial  charges  Buddhist  missions  in  California 
with  doing  much  harm.  Mr.  Ebara  also  maintained 
that  the  true  course  to  be  followed  is  one  of  educa 
tion.  The  Japanese  here  must  be  educated  in  En 
glish,  in  American  customs,  and  especially  in  the 
Christian  religion.  This,  after  all,  is  the  great 
unifier  of  races — belief  in  one  God  and  discipleship 
to  Jesus  Christ.  In  our  interview  he  had  nothing 
to  say  criticising  Americans  or  Calif ornians. 

In  addition  to  the  three  gentlemen  mentioned 
above,  who  were  sent  to  the  United  States  in 
representative  capacities,  several  eminent  Japanese 
have  come  in  private  capacities  who  have  also  given 
the  matter  considerable  attention  and  whose  counsel 
has  been  sought  by  Japanese  on  the  coast.  I  am  not 
able  to  report  in  detail  their  opinions,  although, 
knowing  some  of  the  individuals  as  I  do,  I  am  con 
fident  that  their  thought  will  correspond  closely  with 
that  of  the  three  leaders  already  mentioned.  Messrs. 
Ibuka  and  Kozaki,  pastors  in  Japan  and  leaders  in 
their  respective  denominations,  may  be  counted  on 
to  give  wise  and  wholesome  advice.  Mr.  Suyehiro, 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM      111 

Professor  of  International  Law  in  the  Imperial 
University  in  Kyoto,  with  whom  the  writer  has  been 
associated  for  five  years  on  the  executive  committee 
of  the  Oriental  Peace  Society,  has  come  to  California 
in  a  private  capacity  to  study  the  legal  aspects  of 
the  question.  He  is  carefully  refraining  from  all 
public  utterances. 

Although  Count  Okuma,  sometimes  called  the 
"  Grand  Old  Man  of  Japan,"  has  not  come  to  Cali 
fornia  at  this  juncture,  yet  his  utterances  in  regard 
to  the  question  at  issue  may  rightly  be  regarded 
as  an  important  factor  in  the  moral  leadership  of 
the  Japanese  in  California.  "Diplomacy  or  law  or 
statesmanship,"  he  said,  "will  not  work  in  this  case: 
he  power  of  Christianity,  the  teaching  of  the  broth 
erhood  of  all  men  and  universal  peace,  alone  will  save 

f 

the  threatening  situation.    Christianity  is  stronger  in 

America  than  in  any  other  country  and  the  concerted 

efforts  of  the  Christian  workers  here  (in  Japan)  and 

in  America  will  achieve  what  we  all  have  at  heart." 

Surely  this  appeal  from  a  Japanese  statesman,  who 

makes  no  profession  of  being  a  Christian,  to  the 

Christians  of  America  should  not  only  set  us  all 

/  thinking,  but  should  also  inspire  us  to  do  our  part 

Ah.  overcoming  that  narrow  race  prejudice  which 

moves  so  considerable  a  section  of  our  people. 

During  my  stay  on  the  Pacific  coast  it  has  been 
my  privilege  to  meet  in  friendly  conference  many 
of  the  Japanese  leaders.  I  have  dined  or  lunched 


112    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

with  representatives  of  various  associations  and 
groups  and  have  been  allowed  not  only  to  ask  many 
pointed  questions  but  to  express  my  own  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  situation.  Indeed,  the  Japanese  have 
been  more  desirous  of  hearing  than  of  speaking 
themselves.  The  result  of  these  interviews  has  been 
to  leave  on  my  mind  a  very  definite  impression 
which  I  would  like  to  pass  on. 

The  first  thing  to  be  stated  is  that  the  Japanese 
leaders  do  not  exhibit  a  spirit  of  captious  criticism 
or  complaint.  They  do  not  feel  indignant  and  bellig 
erent.  Of  course,  they  are  pained  and  are,  indeed, 
deeply  grieved  that  so  many  Americans  shun  them 
and  regard  them  with  such  unfriendly  feeling.  But 
they  are  not  resentful  nor  revengeful.  They  seem, 
rather,  to  have  the  spirit  taught  by  Christ,  when 
smitten  on  the  one  cheek  to  turn  the  other.  In 
deed,  at  one  of  the  public  meetings,  when  I  was  asked 
to  speak  in  Japanese  on  the  "Future  of  the  Japanese 
Question,"  that  was  the  Scripture  passage  read  by 
the  Japanese  leader  of  the  meeting. 

The  general  attitude  of  these  Japanese  leaders 
has,  accordingly,  been  a  source  at  once  of  surprise 
and  of  satisfaction.  In  talking  matters  over,  while 
they  often  speak  of  the  indignities  which  they  re 
ceive — occasional  stoning  by  rowdy  boys,  refusal  of 
barbers  to  cut  their  hair,  racial  discrimination,  and 
lack  of  courteous  treatment  in  many  little  ways — 
they  mention  these  matters  without  anger  and  often 


•2.0 


•Bs-a 


III 


£sl 


r-t 

I1! 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM       113 

add  that  this  treatment  does  not  come  from  the 
better  classes,  among  whom  there  are  many  friends 
and  supporters.  Moreover,  they  add,  the  situation 
has  been  steadily  improving  for  four  or  five  years. 
"What  is  needed  is  patience." 

One  group  of  men,  in  talking  of  these  matters, 
said  that  the  anti-Japanese  feeling  was  quite  natu 
ral.  Japanese  themselves  could  understand  it,  when 
they  recall  their  own  feeling  toward  negroes  or  even 
to  the  Shinheimin  ("  new-common  people" — so 
called  because  they  were  formerly  an  outcast  class) 
in  Japan.  And  all  agreed. 

Furthermore,  all  those  with  whom  the  writer  has 
discussed  this  subject  have  acknowledged  the  partial  . 
truth  of  most  of  the  criticisms  directed  against  the 
Japanese.  But  they  say  that,  as  a  rule,  there  is  too 
extensive  a  generalization  from  a  few  instances. 
The  offending  Japanese  is  noted  and  remembered, 
and  his  fault  is  laid  up  against  the  race,  while  tho— - 
large  majority,  who  are  not  guilty  of  that  fault,  are 
overlooked  or,  if  noted,  are  regarded  as  exceptions. 
This,  however,  is  the  way  with  every  people.  The 
Japanese  in  Japan  have  fallen  into  the  same  treat 
ment  of  aliens.  Such  utterances  show  how  broad- 
minded  these  leaders  are. 

And,  finally,  the  writer  has  been  impressed  with 
the  sanity  of  their  counsels.  They  are  seeking  to 
curb  the  jingo  young  men  among  themselves,  and 
also  the  chauvinistic  press  in  Japan.  They  see 


114    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

clearly  that  all  vituperative,  retaliatory,  belligerent, 
or  ill-mannered  retorts,  hinder,  rather  than  aid,  the 
cause.  They  have  sought  to  calm  the  excited  feel 
ings  in  Japan.  For  instance,  they  have  counselled 
Japan  to  proceed  with  her  part  in  the  anticipated 
Panama  Exposition,  of  which  California  is  expect 
ing  so  much.  I  wonder  if  America  or  Americans  in 
Japan  placed  in  conditions  like  those  in  which  Ja 
pan  and  the  Japanese  have  been  placed  would  have 
acted  in  an  equally  generous  manner? 

Among  the  forces  working  powerfully  for  the  assim 
ilation  of  the  Japanese  is  that  of  Christian  missions. 
They  are  legitimately  introduced  into  this  chapter 
because,  though  organized  and  largely  controlled  by 
the  American  churches,  yet  the  actual  evangelistic 
work  is  chiefly  done  by  the  Japanese  themselves. 

Of  the  fifty  Japanese  churches  in  the  United 
States,  twenty-four  churches,  with  one  thousand 
two  hundred  and  ninety-eight  members,  are  in 
northern  California;  sixteen  churches,  with  six  hun 
dred  and  eighty-one  members,  in  southern  Cali 
fornia;  and  twelve  churches,  with  five  hundred  and 
ten  members,  in  Washington,  Oregon,  and  Colorado. 
The  following  paragraphs  are  quoted  from  Reverend 
Mr.  Hinman's  excellent  pamphlet  on  "The  Oriental 
in  America  ": 

"The  first  mission  work  for  Japanese  was  begun 
by  the  Methodists  in  1877,  but  its  great  development 
has  been  since  1900.  .  .  .  Many  Orientals  have  been 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM       115 

received  into  American  churches,  but  where  there  are 
sufficient  numbers,  experience  has  shown  that  better 
results  are  secured  by  the  organization  of  separate 
or  branch  churches.  .  .  .  From  the  beginning,  mis 
sionary  work  for  the  Japanese  has  placed  emphasis 
on  preaching  and  institutional  work,  partly  because 
trained  Japanese  preachers  were  obtainable  and  be 
cause  Japanese  could  be  appealed  to  by  other  means 
than  the  English  class. 

"  Mission  work  for  the  Japanese  in  America  is 
helped  by  the  fact  that  a  considerable  number  of 
the  Japanese  immigrants  have  been  somewhat  af 
fected  by  Christian  influence  before  their  arrival. 
Many  immigrants  have  been  members  of  churches 
in  Japan  and  some  have  been  trained  in  Christian 
work.  They  are  ready  to  enter  churches  here  and 
themselves  feel  a  responsibility  for  work  among 
their  own  people  in  America.  Japanese  pastors 
show  a  genuinely  missionary  spirit,  going  out  freely 
to  visit  the  ranches  and  railroad  camps  where  Jap 
anese  are  working.  They  conduct  special  campaigns 
of  pastoral  evangelism  and  carefully  study  and  plan 
for  the  evangelization  of  unreached  Japanese  com 
munities.  Few  of  them  are  widely  known  to  Ameri 
cans,  but  they  are  men  of  great  influence  and  power 
among  their  own  people  and  are  recognized  in  the 
most  important  gatherings  of  the  Japanese  commu 
nities.  They  are  leaders  in  local  reforms,  scholarly 
in  their  reading  and  thinking,  and  adaptable  in  their 
methods. 

"  The  quick  acceptance  of  the  methods  of  organized 
church  work  by  the  Japanese  is  very  encouraging. 
American  workers  are  surprised  to  find  how  soon  the 
Japanese  Christians  are  anxious  and  able  to  admin 
ister  their  church  work  quite  independently.  No 
great  social  or  religious  movement  touches  the  life 


116    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

of  the  places  where  they  live  without  stirring  their 
keen  interest.  Japanese  Associations,  including  in 
their  membership  all  those  in  a  certain  district, 
gladly  call  together  great  mass  meetings  when  speak 
ers  of  prominence  from  Japan  are  available.  Jap 
anese  churches  frequently  command  the  attention 
of  an  entire  community  when  they  can  introduce 
men  like  the  late  Bishop  Honda,  President  Harada, 
or  Americans  who  have  spent  years  in  Japan. 

"Many  Japanese  pastors  are  graduates  of  Ameri 
can  theological  schools. 

"  While  Japanese  Christians  influence  so  strongly 
the  life  of  their  communities  in  America,  the  Japa 
nese  returning  to  their  own  country  with  a  new-found 
faith,  have  had  a  very  large  influence  on  missionary 
work  and  social  reform  in  Japan.  The  Rev.  H. 
Kehara,  converted  in  a  Methodist  California  mis 
sion,  did  splendid  pioneer  service  in  organizing  Jap 
anese  missions,  in  Hawaii  and  Korea.  Another 
product  of  California  Japanese  missions,  Mr.  Sho 
Nemoto,  has  been  the  parliamentary  leader  of  tem 
perance  reform,  and  has  secured  the  passage  of  a 
bill  against  the  use  of  tobacco  by  minors. 

"The  story  of  American  influence  through  the 
returned  Oriental  emigrant  has  never  yet  been  ade 
quately  told.  It  concerns  all  classes,  the  humble 
farmer  who  goes  back  with  new  ideas  to  his  native 
village  and  the  great  reformer  who  has  learned  a 
1  divine  discontent7  with  the  old  customs  and  su 
perstitions.  The  marvelous  awakening  of  China 
and  Japan  is  not  inexplicable  to  the  Christian  men 
and  women  through  whom  God  has  worked  to  form 
the  thoughts  and  change  the  hearts  of  Orientals  in 
America. 

"Japanese  churches  come  to  self-support  more 
quickly  and  more  readily  than  Chinese  churches,  as 


EFFORTS  TO  SOLVE  THE  PROBLEM       117 

they  apply  their  gifts  almost  exclusively  to  Christian 
work  in  the  United  States.  They  give  generously 
for  the  erection  of  mission  buildings.  Members  of 
the  Pacific  Japanese  Methodist  Conference  annually 
gave  over  $20.00  per  capita  to  home  expenses  for 
eight  successive  years." 

Personal  acquaintance  with  many  of  the  Japanese 
pastors  corroborates  the  statements  made  above. 

Whoever  will  consider  the  efforts  being  put  forth 
by  Japanese  leaders  and  also  by  the  rank  and  file 
to  adapt  themselves  to  the  conditions  of  life  here, 
^6  learn  our  ways,  and  conform  to  our  standards 
will  surely  realize  that  much  has  already  been  done 
and  that  the  prospects  for  the  future  are  hopeful. 


CHAPTER  VII 
ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE? 

WE  have  now  reached  the  storm-centre  of  our 
problem.  Vehement  assertion  and  dogmatic  confi 
dence  characterize  the  discussions  both  of  those  who 
assert  and  of  those  who  deny  Japanese  assimilability. 

If  the  question  is  asked  why  they  are  not  assimi 
lable;  we  are  told  that  they  are  so  different,  so  fixed  in 
their  race  traits,  so  unalterably  Japanese,  so  wedded 
to  their  Mikado  worship.  Japanese  are  Japanese 
and  will  never  change,  nor  learn  our  ways,  nor  adopt 
our  modes  of  life.  They  cannot  possibly  accept  our 
conceptions  of  God  and  man,  of  society  and  govern 
ment,  of  duty  and  destiny,  of  home  and  woman,  and 
the  like.  In  brief,  the  fault  is  with  the  Japanese. 
But  as  the  discussion  advances  the  question  becomes 
one  of  intermarriage;  it  then  appears  that  the  diffi- 
^^culty  is  quite  on  the  other  side — it  is  the  white  man 
that  scorns  the  little  brown  man  and  regards  him 
as  inherently  inferior  and  intermarriage  as  utterly 
obnoxious.  The  final  and  clinching  argument  is  the 
/Question:  " Would  you  let  your  daughter  marry  a 
Jap?" 

To  put  the  matter,  then,  more  truly,  should  we  not 
say  that  it  is  the  white  who  is  unassimilable?  We 

118 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  119 

are  not  willing  to  adopt  their  ways  of  life  and  thought 
nor  to  allow  our  children  to  intermarry  with  theirs, 
thus  contaminating  our  aristocratic  blood.  When 
intermarriage  does  take  place  we  class  the  offspring 
as  belonging  to  their  race,  not  to  ours,  although  the 
actual  blood  relation  proclaims  the  children  as  much 
ours  as  theirs. 

Instinctive  race  feelings  so  inevitably  arise  in  this 
discussion  that  special  care  is  needed  to  distinguish 
between  feelings  and  facts.  Yet  we  must  not  for 
get  that  feelings  also  are  pertinent  facts  and  facts 
of  great  importance.  They  cannot  be  ignored  or 
treated  as  though  they  were  not.  Nevertheless, 
they  must  not  be  allowed  to  distort  our  vision  in 
regard  to  other  facts  which  also  are  solid  and  verifi 
able  and  demand  proper  consideration. 

Lest  some  may  promptly  conclude  that  the  writer 
advocates  free  intermarriage  of  races,  he  states  at 
once  that  such  is  not  his  view.  Rather  he  earnestly 
deprecates  it.  A  more  complete  statement,  how 
ever,  will  follow  in  due  course. 

It  is  important,  first  of  all,  to  distinguish  clearly 
between  the  problems. 

What  is  it,  for  instance,  that  constitutes  a  race? 
An  untrained  thinker  rightly  takes  the  concrete 
whole  as  he  finds  it  and,  in  the  large,  distinguishes 
between  each  whole  on  the  basis  of  skin  color.  This 
single  element  is  a  striking  differentiating  feature. 
And  then,  along  with  the  color,  there  go  in  a  rough 


120    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

way  the  differences  in  physiognomy,  language,  psy 
chic  characteristics,  civilization,  morals,  and  religion. 
These  are  all  bunched  and  each  element  is  uncon 
sciously  regarded  as  carrying  with  it  all  the  rest,  so 
that  wherever  one  element  exists  the  presence  of 
the  rest  may  be  assumed,  even  though  there  may  be 
no  special  ocular  evidence  of  them.  Moreover,  all 
the  race  characteristics,  physiological,  social,  psy 
chic,  and  civilizational,  of  each  race  are  thought  to 
be  inherited  from  generation  to  generation  by  the 
regular  vital  processes,  even  as  dog  nature  is  inher 
ent  in  every  dog  and  cat  nature  in  every  cat.  The 
races  thus  are  ordinarily  conceived  as  being  sharply 
and  permanently  distinct  and  easily  distinguishable. 

Modern  biology,  psychology,  sociology,  and  an 
thropology,  however,  have  completely  overthrown 
this  conception  of  race.  It  conflicts  with  many 
incontrovertible  facts;  it  confuses  biological  with 
psychic  and  social  phenomena.  Such  ideas,  accord 
ingly,  while  natural,  are  utterly  unscientific  and 
seriously  misleading. 

Modern  sciences  have  proven  that,  so  far  as  man's 
physical  organism  is  concerned,  he  resembles  in  re 
markable  ways  the  higher  animals,  especially  the  an 
thropoid  apes,  which  group  of  species,  together  with 
man,  doubtless  evolved  from  some  common  ancestral 
simian  stock.  Modern  sciences  have  also  proven 
that  man  is  possessed  of  marvellous  psychic  pow 
ers  of  a  nature  conveniently  described  as  spiritual. 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  121 

Animals,  especially  the  higher  ones,  are  not  wholly 
without  this  spirit  or  psychic  nature.  But  the  dif 
ference  between  animals  and  man  is  so  vast  that, 
although  it  is  correct  to  speak  of  man  as  anatomi 
cally  only  slightly  different  from  the  baboon  or 
gorilla,  psychically  he  constitutes  a  separate  king 
dom.  If  it  is  legitimate  to  designate  the  differences 
between  the  mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal,  as  a 
difference  of  kingdoms,  then  it  is  correct  to  add  one 
more,  the  kingdom  of  man. 

Now,  the  universal  characteristic  of  all  mankind, 
whatever  the  race,  is  their  common  possession  of 
/powers  of  abstract  thought,  of  language  and  all  that 
.grows  out  of  it,  of  reasoning  in  the  highest  sense,  of 
moral  sense,  and  of  religious  aspirations.  So  far  as 
his  body  is  concerned,  man  belongs  to  the  world  of 
time  and  space,  of  atoms  and  molecules,  of  mecha 
nism  and  organism.  So  far  as  his  spirit  life  is  con 
cerned,  he  rises  above  space  and  time;  he  is  uni 
versal;  he  thinks  all  space;  he  looks  backward  and 
forward  in  infinite  stretches  of  time;  his  whole  life 
is  ruled  by  purpose;  through  his  spirit  nature  he 
is  most  intimately  united  with  innumerable  fellows 
of  his  race  and  with  other  races  and  with  all  his 
tory.  Man  is  by  his  innermQst.aatui£^SQcial.  In  a 
word,  man  is  at  once  physical  and  spiritual,  animal 
and  human,  finite  and  infinite,  individual  and  uni 
versal;  in  part  he  is  ruled  by  necessity,  in  part  he  is 
free  and  self-creating.  In  truth,  man  is  a  paradox, 


122    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

full  of  contradiction  and  controlled  by  countless  con 
flicting  elements.  Now,  the  unity  of  mankind  arises 
from  their  common  possession  of  this  astonishing 
psychic  nature  rather  than  from  their  bodily  similar 
ities. 

Careful  study  of  the  physical  organism  of  the 
higher  animals  doubtless  throws  much  light  on  man's 
physical  nature  and  its  processes  of  growth.  Some 
seem  to  think  that  if  they  can  determine  the  laws  of 
heredity  and  cross-breeding  for  horses  and  cows,  cats 
and  mice,  guinea-pigs  and  primroses,  they  have  forth 
with  determined  the  laws  of  inheritance  and  assimi 
lation  for  the  kingdom  of  man.  Let  investigation  go 
forward.  But  let  us  not  expect  to  get  all  our  light 
from  those  sources.  Let  us  recognize  that  man's 
psychic  nature  is  unique  and  can  be  studied  only  in 
man  and  especially  that  this  nature  has  its  own  laws 
of  heredity  and  is  also  even  in  biological  assimila 
tion  a  modifying  factor  of  the  first  importance. 

We  distinguish  sharply,  therefore,  between  man's 
biological  and  his  spirit  nature  and  separate  clearly 
the  principles  governing  each  realm.  Biological  life 
is  not  social  life,  while  biological  heredity  is  abso 
lutely  different  from  social  heredity.  The  laws  in 
each  realm  are  in  sharp  contrast.  Biological  evolu 
tion,  proceeding  from  a  single  ancestral  human  stock, 
after  many  millenniums  has  resulted  in  several  well- 
marked  races  and  subraces.  At  the  same  time  social 
evolution  has  brought  into  existence  distinct  streams 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  123 

of  civilization.  These  two  great  movements,  biologi 
cal  and  social  evolution,  have  gone  forward  through 
the  action  of  a  common  condition,  namely,  isolating 
barriers  and  long-maintained  segregation.  Because 
these  two  processes  have  gone  on  together,  non-sci 
entific  thought  regards  them  as  parts  of  one  process 
and  therefore  inseparable.  Race  is  thought  to  de 
termine  civilization,  morals,  and  religion  no  less  than 
skin  color,  shape  of  head,  and  structure  and  pigment 
of  hair  and  eyes.  This,  however,  is  a  palpable 
error,  resting  on  antiquated  and  now  discredited 
science. 

So-called  race  characters,  then,  fall  into  two 
groups,  the  physiological  and  the  psychological;  the 
former  are  transmitted  by  biological  and  the  latter  by 
social  heredity,  whereas  biological  heredity  takes  place 
automatically  and  entirely  unconsciously,  by  vital 
processes,  and  is  probably  completed  in  the  case  of 
each  individual  at  the  moment  of  conception,  cer 
tainly  not  later  than  birth; . social  heredity  may 
possibly  begin  before  birth  but  reaches  its  maxi 
mum  activity  during  childhood — doubtless  before  the 
child  reaches  its  tenth  year — but  continues  on  into 
adult  life.  While  no  small  amount  of  social  inheri 
tance  is  transmitted  unconsciously,  it  is  also  true  that 
a  large  amount  of  conscious  effort  may  be  expended 
by  the  parents  and  by  society  in  transmitting  and 
by  the  individual  in  receiving  or  acquiring  this  social 
inheritance.  Our  entire  school  system  is  one  vast 


124    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

conscious  organ  for  the  transmission  of  social  in 
heritance. 

Biological  inheritance  (i.  e.,  physiological  race 
character)  is  moreover  transmitted  exclusively  from 
parents  to  offspring,  while  social  inheritance  is  not 
so  limited.  Not  only  do  older  brothers  and  sisters, 
and  all  kindred  who  live  in  social  relations  with  the 
child,  help  to  impart  the  social  inheritance,  but  ev 
ery  individual  with  whom  the  growing  child  comes 
into  contact  exerts  his  measure  of  influence.  In 
imparting  social  inheritance  the  laagoftje  learned 
and  used,  the  literature  read,  the  music  heard,  the 
actual  conduct  of  men  and  women  observed,  the 
moral  life  and  religious  conceptions  and  motives 
taught — all  have  a  vital  part.  They  determine  the 
character,  the  ruling  conceptions  and  motives,  and 
the  kind  of  life  the  individual  will  lead.  In  a  word, 
social  inheritance  is  a  factor  of  superlative  force  in 
creating  the  personality  of  the  individual.  It  makes 
a  man  to  be  the  man  he  is.  It  gives  concrete  con 
tent  to  his  mind,  furnishes  the  categories  of  his 
thinking  and  thus  determines  his  race,  sociologi 
cally  speaking. 

Physiological  and  social  heredity,  still  further,  have 
no  necessary  connection.  Stated  in  other  words, 
physiological  heredity  does  not  determine  the  nature 
or  content  of  the  social  inheritance.  An  infant  of 
any  given  race,  being  reared  in  the  social  environ 
ment  of  that  race,  receives,  of  course,  its  social 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  125 

inheritance.  But  a  child  of  any  race  under  ten  or 
twelve  years  of  age  removed  to  the  social  environ 
ment  of  another  race  is  fully  capable  of  receiving 
the  social  inheritance  of  that  race.  It  can  learn  the 
language  and  enter  into  the  life  of  the  adopting  race 
just  as  easily  as  into  that  of  the  parent  race.  Ad 
vancing  years  with  loss  of  plasticity  deprives  one  of 
this  capacity.  A  full-grown  adult  has  little  capac 
ity  for  acquiring  new  languages  and  civilizations. 

Of  course,  one  element  of  physiological  heredity 
is  that  which  gives  the  infant  its  nerves  and  brain 
and  back  of  these  its  psychic  nature.  That  psychic 
nature,  however,  is  only  a  latent  capacity  until 
called  into  activity  by  the  social  environment;  this 
determines  its  concrete  content  and  the  forms  of  its 
activity.  Within  that  psychic  nature  there  doubtless 
are  latent  certain  tendencies  which  might  be  re 
garded  as  race  temperament.  But  even  race  tem 
perament  is  predominantly,  if  not  exclusively,  di 
rected  by  the  social  inheritance. 

Exactly  what  takes  place  in  cross-breeding,  scien 
tists  do  not  yet  fully  know.  Does  the  full  heredity 
of  both  races  persist  in  the  offspring?  Does  their 
average  determine  its  forms  and  life?  Are  some  ele 
ments  preponderant  for  a  season  and  then  others? 
In  vague  general  terms  it  has  long  been  thought  that 
the  two  races  are  merged,  producing  an  average. 
The  discovery  of  the  so-called  Mendelian  law  of  in 
heritance,  however,  renders  this  view  no  longer  ac- 


126    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

ceptable.  Definite  groups  of  characters  seem  to  be 
inherited  as  a  whole  and  either  to  determine  the  off 
spring  or  to  lie  latent  for  one  or  more  generations. 
In  certain  plants  and  animals  Mendel's  law  of  reces 
sive  and  dominant  unitary  characters  seems  to  hold; 
but  how  far  it  applies  to  man  and  what  characteris 
tics  are  involved  are  matters  as  yet  by  no  means 
certain.  Extended  scientific  study  will  be  needful 
before  we  shall  have  anything  like  real  knowledge  of 
these  matters. 

This  much,  however,  is  certain:  in  the  crossing  of 
races  there  is  mutual  give  and  take;  even  a  single 
individual  makes  its  contribution  to  the  biological 
heritage  of  the  group  with  which  it  crosses,  provided, 
of  course,  the  offspring  are  permanently  fertile. 

In  contrast  to  the  inevitable  give  and  take  of  bio 
logical  assimilation  is  the  remarkable  absence  of  all 
necessity  in  social  assimilation;  an  assimilating  race 
may  receive  nothing  from  the  race  assimilated.  A 
larger  body,  on  the  other  hand,  may  be  assimilated 
to  the  social  standard  of  the  smaller  body.  Social 
assimilation  has  no  necessary  causal  dependence  on 
biological  assimilation.  Japan,  as  already  stated, 
and,  indeed,  the  whole  Orient,  furnish  striking  exam 
ples  of  large  and  rapid  social  assimilation  of  West 
ern  life,  the  causes  being  wholly  social. 

"  Ron  yori  shoko,"  as  the  Japanese,  say.  Concrete 
facts  count  more  than  abstract  discussion. 

A  Japanese  infant,  left  an  orphan  in  Oakland  in 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  127 

1898,  was  reared  in  an  American  orphanage.  While 
her  biological  heritage,  accordingly,  was  entirely 
Japanese,  her  social  heritage  was  entirely  American. 
On  going  to  school  she  proved  to  be  a  bright  student 
and  surpassed  her  American  schoolmates.  But  she 
developed  an  abnormal  dislike,  even  hatred,  of  Jap 
anese.  Although  her  body  and  face  were  Japanese, 
her  spirit  and  mind  were  markedly  American  and 
there  was  constant  war  in  her  soul.  At  twelve 
years  of  age  she  was  placed  in  a  Japanese  boarding- 
school  and  began  to  live  with  Japanese  children  and 
to  study  the  Japanese  language.  This  was  a  terrible 
ordeal.  A  year  ago,  however,  becoming  a  Christian, 
she  became  reconciled  to  the  mysterious  providence 
of  the  Heavenly  Father.  Peace  now  reigns  within; 
she  trusts  that  He  has  some  great  work  for  her  to  do 
through  her  strange  experience.  But  her  interests 
are  all  American.  In  the  high  school  she  is  a  favor 
ite  with  scholars  and  teachers.  She  is  ahead  of  the 
average  girl  of  her  age  in  following,  through  the 
daily  paper,  the  significant  events  in  current  history 
such  as  the  Balkan  War,  the  new  tariff,  and  currency 
legislation.  Here  is  a  clear  case.  Her  biological 
heredity  is  pure  Japanese,  but  this  has  not  given  her 
a  single  Japanese  idea  or  word  nor  a  particle  of 
Japanese  patriotism. 

A  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance  was  for  many 
years  a  missionary  in  China.  While  there  he  adopted 
two  Chinese  girls  who  had  been  abandoned  and 


128    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

brought  them  up  in  his  family  as  his  own  children. 
They  learned  to  speak,  read,  and  write  English  per 
fectly,  and  in  every  respect  except  appearance  they 
were  Americans.  I  have  known  them  personally 
for  forty  years. 

Another  friend  of  mine  was  a  missionary  in  Japan 
for  over  a  score  of  years.  Through  an  extraordinary 
set  of  circumstances  he  adopted  a  little  girl  of  four 
whose  mother  was  American  and  father  Japanese. 
At  the  time  of  the  adoption  the  father  had  died  and 
the  mother  was  living  in  Philadelphia  but  died  not 
long  after.  This  girl  was  reared  as  a  daughter  by 
my  friend  and  his  wife.  For  a  year  or  more  I  took 
my  turn  in  her  daily  instruction.  Unless  one  were  on 
the  lookout  for  Japanese  traits,  no  one  would  be  apt 
to  notice  them  in  her.  In  her  twenties  she  was  an 
exceptionally  handsome  woman.  And  as  for  her 
mental  and  moral  traits,  she  is  wholly  American, 
having  been  reared  as  such. 

My  parents  were  missionaries  in  the  Caroline 
Islands  from  1854-61.  Among  the  most  serious 
obstacles  to  their  work  were  the  lives  of  dissolute 
white  sailors.  One  of  them,  a  notorious  murderer, 
at  his  death  gave  my  father  a  four-year  old  girl  born 
to  him  by  one  of  those  savage  women.  Could  a 
child  possibly  have  a  worse  ancestry?  My  parents 
reared  her  as  the  eldest  daughter.  I  thought  of 
her  as  my  oldest  sister  and  did  not  know  until  after 
her  death,  ten  years  later,  that  she  was  an  adopted 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  129 

child.  She  learned  to  speak  English  and  to  be  in 
every  respect  one  of  us.  My  mother  said  of  her 
that  she  never  knew  her  to  do  anything  wrong; 
she  was  perfectly  obedient,  gentle,  kind,  and  truth 
ful.  She  evinced  no  tendencies  to  theft  and  deceit, 
not  even  to  ill  temper.  She  was  absolutely  trust 
worthy. 

These  and  numberless  similar  cases  that  might  be 
cited  show  that  the  complete  adoption  by  an  indi 
vidual  of  one  race  of  the  language,  ideas,  motives, 
and  mode  of  life  of  an  alien  race  takes  place  without 
the  slightest  difficulty  due  to  biological  race  differ 
ence.  In  other  words,  if  there  are  obstacles  to  the 
social  assimilation  of  races  they  are  not  inherent  in 
their  biological  differences. 

The  possibility  of  race  assimilation  through  in 
termarriage,  if  continuously  fertile  progeny  result, 
probably  few  doubt.  Anthropologists  assert  that 
practically  all  modern  peoples  spring  from  vast  inter 
mixture  of  bloods.  Especially  is  this  true  of  so- 
called  Anglo-Saxons — more  truly  described  as  An 
glo-Kelts.  It  is  also  true  of  the  Japanese.  Malay, 
Mongolian,  Tartar,  Caucasian  (Aino),  and  Negro  or 
Negrito  elements  all  entered  in.  Even  yet  elements 
of  these  distinct  types  are  occasionally  distinguish 
able.  Sometimes  traces  of  the  Jewish  type  appear 
and  there  are  historical  grounds  for  holding  that  a 
Jewish  colony  once  existed  in  Japan  which,  however, 
has  been  entirely  absorbed  through  intermarriage. 


130    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

To  class  the  Japanese  as  Mongolians  is  as  unscientific 
as  it  is  to  say  that  Americans  are  Kelts  or  Norsemen. 

Of  course,  if  intermarriage  results  in  offspring  not 
permanently  fertile  from  generation  to  generation, 
and  especially  through  the  critical  second  generation, 
biological  assimilation  is  impossible.  Two  inter 
mingling  races  would  in  that  case  each  remain  per 
manently  pure  because  of  the  infertility  of  half- 
breeds.  Race  purity  would  then  take  care  of  itself. 
One  of  the  striking  facts,  however,  regarding  the 
human  race  is  the  degree  to  which  fertility  exists 
between  races.  This  shows  that  the  differences  are 
not  so  fundamental,  biologically,  as  many  hold. 
This  wide  interfertility  speaks  powerfully  for  the 
biological  unity  of  the  human  race. 

The  objection,  then,  to  intermarriage  is  not  to  be 
based  on  the  impossibility  of  biological  assimilation 
but,  if  valid,  on  social  and  psychic  grounds. 

Many  assert  the  existence  of  strong  instinctive 
shrinking  from  physical  contact  with  one  of  another 
color.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  such  instinc 
tive  abhorrence  is  by  no  means  universal.  In  the 
days  of  slavery,  and  throughout  history,  owners  of 
Negro  slaves  have  not  shrunk,  on  account  of  color, 
from  marriage  in  the  biological  sense.  Moreover, 
members  of  the  white  race,  in  .their  world- wide  travels 
among  the  colored  races,  soon  become  so  familiar 
with  the  colored  skin  that  the  alleged  instinctive 
antipathy  offers  no  restraint  to  their  passions.  In- 


Mr.  Otto  Fukushima. 


Mrs.  Otto  Fukushima  (American) 


The  four  daughters  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fukushima;  typical  American- Japanese  children. 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  131 

deed,  one  of  the  saddest  and  most  discouraging  as- 
spects  of  the  white  man's  presence  in  Japan,  and  i 
all  the  East,  is  the  ease  with  which  so  many  of  them/7 
take  up  loose  sexual  relations.  It  is  difficult  to  per 
suade  one  who  knows  wnat  goes  on  there  that  there 
is  any  such  instinctive  biological  race  antipathy  as 
is  asserted.  As  President  Eliot  has  pointed  out,  Japa 
nese  seem  to  possess  the  race-preserving  instinct 
more  strongly  than  the  white  race. 

Of  more  importance  is  the  objection  that  mixed 
progeny  are  undesirable;  that  while  they  lack  the 
virtues  they  possess  the  failings  of  both  races;  that 
they  are  weak  in  body  and  mind  and  especially  in 
moral  character.  Biological  assimilation,  therefore, 
though  possible,  is  declared  to  be  undesirable. 
These  statements  are  made  with  great  dogmatic  con 
fidence.  They  are  based,  however,  on  observations 
of  the  progeny  of  immoral  men  with  Negro,  Indian, 
Hindoo,  Chinese,  and  Japanese  women.  The  illus 
tration  of  the  product  of  race  mixture  commonly 
used  by  those  who  oppose  it  is  the  mule,  ugly  in  na 
ture,  and  hybrid. 

Such  arguments,  however,  are  not  scientifically 
convincing.  They  ignore  many  important  facts  and 
factors.  They  forget  that  the  results  of  cross-breed-./' 
ing  in  both  plants  and  animals  are,  in  many  cases, 
highly  valuable,  preserving  good  and  eliminating  bad 
characteristics;  that  the  virile  races  to-day  are  the 
progeny  of  vast  race  mixtures;  that,  while  the  cross- 


132    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

ing  of  Caucasian  with  Negro,  for  instance,  may  be 
bad,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  their  crossing  with 
Chinese  or  Japanese  may  not  be  good;  that  in  human 
reproduction  care  in  education  is  of  the  highest 
importance,  culture  seeming  oftentimes  to  count  for 
more  than  parentage;  that  the  crossing  of  whites  with 
Asiatics  or  with  blacks,  under  favorable  conditions, 
is  very  rare;  and,  finally,  that  the  intermarriage  of 
Japanese  and  whites  is  so  recent  that  there  has  as 
yet  been  no  opportunity  for  observation  of  results 
to  the  third  and  fourth  generation.  The  disastrous 
results  of  immoral  sexual  relations  of  the  races 
should  not  be  regarded  as  furnishing  light  of  any 
particular  value  on  this  problem.  Until  adequate 
facts  shall  have  been  recorded  and  all  these  consider 
ations  taken  account  of,  it  is  absurd  to  dogmatize 
either  pro  or  con  as  to  the  impossibility  or  undesira- 
bility,  biologically  speaking,  of  the  intermarriage  of 
Japanese  and  whites. 

Among  the  physiological  differences  distinguishing 
Japanese  from  Americans,  two  deserve  special  men 
tion  in  this  connection. 

The  placid  face  of  a  Japanese  reveals  to  occidental 
eyes  no  clew  to  the  emotions  of  the  heart.  There  is 
no  facial  play  of  expression  due  to  the  ceaseless  ten 
sion  and  relaxation  of  the  surface  muscles  of  his  face, 
as  is  customary  in  Occidentals;  no  manifestation  of 
thought  by  unconscious  movements  of  the  eye;  no 
flushing  of  the  brow  and  cheeks  as  feelings  surge 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  133 

back  and  forth  in  the  heart.  This  is  one  of  the 
factors  which  make  the  Oriental  seem  so  inscrutable, 
so  incalculable. 

American  instinctive  distrust  of  Japanese  is  often 
due  to  this  single  cause.  Americans  commonly  feel 
that  the  real  self  of  the  Japanese  individual  is  ever 
in  concealment;  that  he  wears  a  mask,  is  not  really 
frank,  and  cannot  be  trusted.  And  this  seems  to  be 
a  congenital  race  characteristic,  a  correlation  of  de 
fect  in  moral  nature  with  an  inherent  physiological 
trait.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  which  Japanese  are  con 
scious,  nor  is  it  subject  to  voluntary  control.  Better 
acquaintance  with  Japan,  however,  reveals  the  error 
of  these  judgments.  Japanese  stolidity  is  an  instance 
of  the  way  in  which  social  habit  and  tradition  control  / 
facial  expression.  The  Japanese  are,  in  fact,  an  ex 
tremely  emotional  people.  Stoicism,  however,  has  , 
been  deliberately  cultivated.  Feudalism,  with  its  two- 
sworded  samurai  ever  at  hand,  made  it  imperative 
that  men  should  not  wear  their  hearts  or  minds  on  their 
sleeves.  Stolid  expression,  concealing  whatever  might 
be  going  on  within,  was  more  useful  in  the  struggle 
for  existence  than  a  coat  of  mail;  and  this  became 
the  social  custom  and  was  passed  on  from  generation 
to  generation  by  unconscious  imitation.  It  became 
long  since  a  race  character,  and  appears  to  be  con 
genital,  yet  it  is  not;  for  the  faces  of  young  children 
are  often  exceedingly  vivacious.  Japanese  children  .,.- 
brought  over  to  America  while  still  young,  or  born  _, 


134    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

here,  promptly  develop  habits  of  facial  expression 
like  those  of  Americans.  They  develop  no  masks. 
They  are  frank  and  direct.  This  is  one  of  the 
striking  changes  which  take  place  through  social 
assimilation,  making  American-born  Japanese  Amer 
ican  in  bodily  appearance  as  well  as  in  mental  habit. 
This,  however,  is  not  confined  to  children.  Adults 
also,  though  in  less  degree,  are  taking  on  American 
characteristics  in  this  respect.  A  group  of  my  Jap 
anese  students  who  have  come  to  America  told  of 
their  surprise  at  seeing  how  all  Japanese  in  Califor 
nia,  even  the  least  educated,  have  undergone  strange 
modification  in  facial  expression.  An  American 
lady  in  missionary  work  for  Japanese  in  California 
remarked  to  me  how  much  more  frank,  direct,  and 
trustworthy  those  Japanese  were  who  had  lived 
for  years  in  California  than  those  who  had  only 
recently  arrived  from  Japan. 

Another  factor  helping  to  produce  the  same  assim 
ilating  result  is  the  acquisition  of  the  English  lan 
guage  from  infancy.  The  utterance  and  articulation 
of  sounds  in  Japanese  require  a  different  use  of  tongue 
and  lips  and  throat  from  that  required  by  English. 
But  function  forms  the  organ,  as  Darwin  has  success 
fully  taught  us.  There  is,  accordingly,  a  Japanese  face 
produced  by  the  Japanese  language  and  an  English 
face  produced  by  the  English  language.  Now  the 
American-born  Japanese  child,  learning  to  speak  En 
glish  in  the  years  of  plastic  growth,  merely  through 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  135 

his  acquisition  of  English,  develops  the  character 
istic  features  of  the  English  face.    And  Japanese 
children  who  do  not  learn  to  speak  their  own  lan 
guage  lose,  of  course,  those  features  of  the  Japanese 
face  which  are  due  to  the  Japanese  language.    In 
the  terms  of  evolutionary  science  these  race  char- 
,  acters  are  due  to  the  Lamarckian  factor  of  use  and 
disuse. 

If,  as  Neo-Lamarckians  hold,  the  character  thus 
acquired  is  inherited,  then  there  will  be  progressive 
,  evolution  from  the  Japanese  to  the  English  face. 

This  suggests  other  changes  in  the  bodily  form 
of  American-born  Japanese  due  to  life  in  America 
which,  however,  will  not  be  discussed.  But,  in  the 
light  of  these  two  characteristics,  it  is  easy  to  see 
xthat  social  assimilation,  even  without  intermarriage, 
produces  important  changes  in  the  very  appearance 
of  offspring  of  alien  races  born  and  bred  in  this  land. 
It  has  always  been  supposed  that  biological  assim 
ilation  could  take  place  only  by  the  intermarriage 
of  races.  Yet  even  this  position  is  being  assailed 
by  the  recent  discovery  of  profound  physiological 
changes  occurring  in  the  children  of  immigrants. 

-  The  statistical  investigations  by  Professor  Boas,1 
of  Columbia  University,  of  children  born  of  the  same 
parents  before  and  after  arrival  in  this  country  show 
that,  apart  from  intermarriage,  biological  changes 

^'Changes  in  Bodily  Form  of  Descendants  of  Immigrants,"  by 
F.  Boas.  Published  by  the  Immigration  Commission,  1912. 


136    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

take  place  in  what  have  been  supposed  to  be  the 
most  strongly  fixed  of  race  characters — viz.,  theshape 
of  the  head.  So  important  is  this  discovery  that  his 
statements  in  regard  to  it  are  here  given  verbatim. 

"The  investigation  has  shown  much  more  than 
was  anticipated.  There  are  not  only  decided  changes 
in  the  rate  of  development  of  immigrants,  but  there 
is  also  a  far-reaching  change  in  the  type — a  change 
which  cannot  be  ascribed  to  selection  or  mixture, 
but  which  can  only  be  explained  as  due  directly  to 
the  influence  of  the  environment.  This  conclusion 
has  been  tested  in  many  different  ways,  and  seems 
to  be  amply  proved.  .  .  .  The  bodily  traits  which 
have  been  observed  to  undergo  a  change  under 
American  environment  belong  to  those  character 
istics  of  the  human  body  which  are  considered  the 
most  stable.  We  therefore  are  compelled  to  draw 
the  conclusion  that  if  these  traits  change  under  the 
influence  of  environment,  presumably  none  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  human  types  that  come  to 
America  remain  stable.  The  adaptability  of  the 
immigrant  seems  to  be  very  much  greater  than  we 
had  a  right  to  suppose  before  our  investigations 
were  instituted"  (page  2). 

"The  influence  of  the  American  environment 
makes  itself  felt  with  increasing  intensity  accord 
ing  to  the  time  elapsed  between  the  arrival  of  the 
mother  and  the  birth  of  the  child"  (page  57). 

"In  other  words  the  effect  of  the  American  envi 
ronment  makes  itself  felt  immediately,  and  increases 
slowly  with  the  increase  of  time  elapsed  between 
the  immigration  of  the  parents  and  the  birth  of  the 
child"  (page  61). 

"It  would  be  too  much  to  claim  that  all  the  dis- 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  137 

tinct  European  types  become  the  same  in  America, 
without  mixture,  solely  by  the  action  of  the  new 
environment.  ...  I  confess  I  do  not  consider  such 
a  result  as  likely.  .  .  .  Whatever  the  extent  of  these 
bodily  changes  may  be,  ...  we  are  necessarily  led 
^£b  grant  also  a  great  plasticity  of  the  mental  make 
up  of  human  types.  .  .  .  From  these  facts  we  must 
conclude  that  the  fundamental  traits  of  the  mind, 
which  are  closely  correlated  with  the  physical  con 
dition  of  the  body  and  whose  development  contin 
ues  over  many  years  after  physical  growth  has 
ceased,  are  the  more  subject  to  far-reaching  changes" 
(page  76). 

The  investigations  of  Mr.  Fishberg1  in  regard  to 
the  Jewish  race  confirm  this  general  position.  The 
following  sentences  from  his  important  work  merit 
careful  consideration: 

"It  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  the  cast  of  counte 
nance  depends  as  much,  probably  more,  on  the  social 
milieu  than  on  anthropological  traits.  Moreover, 
the  cast  of  countenance  changes  very  easily  under 
a  change  of  social  environment.  I  have  noted  such 
a  rapid  change  among  immigrants  to  the  United 
States.  .  .  .  This  new  physiognomy  is  best  noted 
when  some  of  these  immigrants  return  to  their  native 
homes;  it  is  evident  then  even  to  the  casual  observer 
that  they  radically  differ  in  appearance  from  their 
compatriots  who  have  not  been  in  the  United  States. 
This  fact  offers  excellent  proof  that  the  social  ele 
ments  in  which  a  man  moves  exercise  a  profound 
influence  on  his  physical  features.  .  .  .  We  have 

1  "The  Jews:  A  Study  of  Race  and  Environment,"  by  Maurice 
Fishberg.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1911. 


138    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

seen  that  to-day  the  bulk  of  the  Jews  who  have  lived 
for  centuries  in  Africa  present  predominantly  an 
African  physical  type;  those  in  Asia  are  mostly  of 
Asiatic  type;  and  the  European  Jews  are  mostly  of 
the  anthropological  types  met  with  among  European 


races." 


In  his  abstract  of  the  concluding  chapter  Mr. 
Fishberg  says  that  "anthropologically  the  Jews  are 
not  a  race."  The  work  is  well  illustrated,  showing 
both  individual  and  composite  pictures  of  the  dif 
ferent  types  of  Jews,  such  as  the  Turanian,  Teutonic, 
Slavic,  Mongoloid,  Negroid,  and  others.  This  strik 
ing  work  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  discussion 
of  race  assimilability,  completely  undermining  many 
a  popular  opinion  and  even  scientific  theory  as  to 
race  non-assimilability. 

Neither  Professor  Boas  nor  Mr.  Fishberg  attempts 
to  account  for  the  phenomena  they  have  so  volumi 
nously  described.  They  speak  of  these  transfor- 
.  mations  as  the  result  of  the  environment.  It  seems 
clear  to  the  writer  that  much  more  is  implied  than 
first  appears.  Certainly  it  is  not  the  mechanical  or 
chemical  or  physical  features  of  the  environment 
working  by  mechanical  or  physical  methods  which 
produce  the  results.  In  some  way  the  mysterious 
building  powers  transmitted  by  parents  to  children 
are  modified  before  birth.  In  these  phenomena  do 
we  not  have  evidence  of  subconscious  prenatal  influ 
ence  of  the  mother  on  her  offspring?  And  may  we 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  139 

not  name  this  method  of  race  transformation  Bio-  \ 
logical  Assimilation   through  Subconscious   Imita 
tion? 

By  processes,  then,  of  which  we  are  at  present  ig 
norant,  children  born  in  any  land  by  parents  of  an 
alien  race  tend  to  certain  structural  and  physiolog 
ical  characteristics  of  the  dominant  race.  This  is  a 
fact  of  great  importance,  for  if  biological  assimila 
tion  takes  place  without  intermarriage,  then  aforti-f 
ori  is  psychic  assimilation  to  be  expected. 

There  are,  then,  three  factors  in  race  assimilation : 
biological  assimilation  through  intermarriage,  bio 
logical  assimilation  without  intermarriage;  and  so^^ 
cial  assimilation.  While  analytic  thought  separates 
these  three  factors,  in  actual  life  they  ever  work 
together.  Biological  assimilation  through  subcon 
scious  imitation  exerts  especially  powerful  influence 
in  cases  of  mixed  marriages,  for  it  is  reinforced  by 
the  biological  heredity  of  one  of  the  parents.  This 
consideration  throws  much  light  on  the  well-known 
fact  that  Eurasians  born  in  Asia  are  so  conspicuously 
Asiatic  in  appearance.  This  fact  has  been  ascribed 
to  the  prepotency  of  Asiatic  biological  heredity, 
which  explanation  is  doubtless  an  error.  The  newly 
discovered  factor  in  biological  assimilation  is  highly 
important  for  a  right  forecast  of  the  results  of  race  in 
termixture.  While  Eurasians  born  in  Asia  and  espe 
cially  of  Asiatic  mothers  are  conspicuously  Asiatic,/ 
Eurasians  born  in  America  and  especially  of  Ameri-/ 


140     THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

can  mothers  we  may  expect  to  be  conspicuously 
American.  Many  facts  substantiate  this  contention. 
The  writer  was  amazed  at  the  slight  Japanese  appear 
ance  of  the  three  children  of  Mrs.  Aoki,  an  Anglo- 
Saxon,  whom  he  recently  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
at  Los  Angeles.  The  children  were  so  Caucasian  in 
appearance  one  would  not  think  of  the  Japanese  ele 
ment  unless  his  attention  were  first  called  to  it. 

Special  attention  is  called  to  the  impossibility 
of  defining  the  inherent  psychic  characteristics  of 
races.  It  has  been  frequently  attempted.  Men  have 
thought  they  could  distinguish,  for  instance,  between 
the  oriental  and  occidental  types  of  mind.  In  the 
attempt  to  do  so  writers  frequently  ascribe  every 
good  trait  to  the  Occidental  and  the  opposite  bad 
trait  to  the  Oriental.  The  latter  is  suspicious, 
underhanded,  visionary,  deceitful,  impractical,  auto 
cratic,  impersonal,  imperious,  given  to  lust,  despises 
women,  and  so  forth  ad  libitum;  while  the  Occiden 
tal  is  the  opposite  in  every  respect. 

Some,  taking  the  opposite  tack,  have  lauded  the 
Oriental  and  used  his  supposed  superiorities  as  a 
club  with  which  to  castigate  Occidental  failings. 
Both  extremes  are  equally  at  fault.  They  describe 
imaginary  beings  quite  unlike  the  human  beings  of 
flesh  and  blood  that  inhabit  the  world.  The  abiding 
resultant  impression  made  upon  the  writer  by  his 

life  in  the  Orient  is  the  fact  that  in  their  intrinsic 
"%k 

natures  Japanese  are  remarkably  like  Occidentals. 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  141 

The  differences,  of  which  there  are  many,  are  rela 
tively  superficial  and  are  ever  changing,  while  their 
permanent  psychic  characteristics  are  astonishingly 
like  ours.  East  and  West  have  more  in  common 
than  in  difference. 

Moreover,  it  is  ever  to  be  remembered,  that 
just  as  there  are  sharp  differences  between  English, 
Scotch,  Welsh,  and  Irish,  all  of  Great  Britain,  and 
also  between  the  English,  French,  Spanish,  and  Ger 
man  peoples,  so  there  are  sharp  differences  between 
the  people  of  Kagoshima,  Kyoto,  and  Sendai  in 
Japan,  and  between  Japanese  and  Chinese,  Koreans, 
Hindoos,  Persians,  Turks,  and  Arabs.  These  dif 
ferences,  however,  belong  to  the  psychic  character 
istics  of  the  social  orders,  not  to  the  inherent  and  un 
changing  psychic  natures  of  the  peoples.  To  talk, 
therefore,  of  the  oriental  consciousness,  as  though 
they  possessed  an  essential  psychic  race  unity,  em 
bracing  all  their  differences  and  differentiating  them 
from  all  Westerners,  is  to  speak  of  what  in  fact  does 
not  exist.  Mr.  Bliss  Perry,  in  his  illuminating  book 
on  "The  American  Mind,"  describes  well  "the  wiser 
scepticism  of  our  day  concerning  all  hard  and  fast 
racial  distinctions."  "A  race  psychology, "  declares 
Professor  Josiah  Royce,  "is  still  a  science  for  the 
future  to  discover.  .  .  .  We  do  not  scientifically 
know  what  the  true  racial  varieties  of  mental  type 
are.  No  doubt  there  are  such  varieties.  The  judg 
ment  day  or  the  science  of  the  future,  may  demon- 


142    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

strate  what  they  are.  We  are  at  present  very  igno 
rant  regarding  the  whole  matter." 

Amateur  race  psychologists  write  as  though  they 
knew  the  races  in  detail.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they 
are  guided  by  their  own  a  priori  theories.  They 
catch  at  a  few  facts  here  and  there  in  harmony  with 
their  theory  and  build  thereon  gigantic  dogmatic 
structures. 

A  few  years  ago  there  came  to  Japan  an  eminent 
German  professor  of  comparative  religion.  He  had 
visited  Persia  and  India,  Siam  and  China,  and  was 
then  completing  his  study  of  oriental  religions  in 
Japan.  He  stated  that  he  wanted  to  get  first-hand 
information,  so  as  not  to  be  dependent  on  books. 
And  he  forthwith  began  to  discourse  to  the  writer, 
who  listened  with  rapt  attention  to  his  fine  discrim 
inations  between  the  religious  feelings  and  insights 
of  the  various  races.  Unfortunately,  the  writer 
ventured  to  ask  how  he  had  learned  all  these  facts; 
had  he  employed  interpreters?  for  surely  he  could 
not  have  mastered  all  the  languages  in  so  short  a 
time.  "Oh,  no/7  he  replied;  "in  the  matter  of  re 
ligious  feelings  it  is  impossible  to  make  use  of  inter 
preters,  for  they  could  not  possibly  understand  what 
I  am  studying,  much  less  could  they  inquire  of  pil 
grims  what  I  wish  to  learn,  nor  report  back  to  me 
their  replies.  In  this  matter  language  is  useless. 
My  method  is  simply  to  watch.  I  merely  observe 
the  faces  of  the  worshippers  and  pilgrims  and 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  143 

know  by  my  own  insight  the  feelings  that  fill  their 
souls." 

There  you  are:  a  scientific  German!  a  professor  of 
psychology  and  philosophy  diving  into  his  own  inner 
consciousness  for  the  facts  of  oriental  religious  life! 
Not  every  one  confesses  his  method  so  frankly;  but 
the  great  majority  of  tourists  and  "students"  of 
things  oriental,  who  cannot  talk  with  a  native  of 
the  country  in  his  own  tongue,  nor  read  a  line  of  the 
daily  press,  after  spending  in  those  lands  a  few  weeks 
or  months  and  receiving  certain  impressions,  fail  to 
ask  how  much  is  objective  fact  and  how  much 
subjective  fiction;  and  then,  bound  to  write  inter 
estingly,  they  proceed  to  describe  the  "inscrutable" 
Oriental,  with  his  strange  ways  of  life  and,  to  us,  im 
possible  views  of  human  relationships.  Such  is  the 
material  that  has  been  largely  to  blame  for  the  ex 
traordinary  misconceptions  of  the  East  so  prevalent*' 
in  the  West. 

Lafcadio  Hearn,  Sir  Edwin  Arnold,  Percival  Low 
ell,  and  such  writers  have  described  most  entertain 
ingly  and  with  captivating  literary  skill  the  Japan  of 
their  dreams,  but  not  the  real  Japan  of  flesh  and 
blood.  Superficial  peculiarities  are  exaggerated  with 
out  measure,  deeper  identities  are  overlooked,  until 
we  are  led  to  believe  that  Orientals  are  so  different 
from  us  that  really  they  are  unintelligible  and  we  are 
equally  so  to  them;  there  is  a  deep,  impassable  gulf 
fixed  between  them  and  us.  It  then  follows,  as  a 


144    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

matter  of  course,  that  we  and  they  are  mutually 
unassimilable.  And  this  is  the  conviction  that  now 
possesses  many  intelligent  men  and  women  in  Amer 
ica.  The  few  Japanese  whom  such  Americans  do 
meet  in  America  and  find  fairly  rational  and  intelli 
gible  they  regard  as  exceptions  and,  in  any  case,  as 
doubtless  possessing  Japanese  characteristics  which 
elude  them  so  that  they  cannot  trust  their  own 
experience. 

The  writer  regards  these  opinions  and  writings  not 
only  as  erroneous  but  also  as  injurious.  They  are 
affecting,  seriously,  the  relations  of  the  nations.  In 
his  experience,  the  writer  has  found  the  Japanese 
thoroughly  human;  they  are  fundamentally  like  us 
and  wish  to  be  regarded  and  treated  so.  They  wish 
to  be  accepted  as  brothers  in  the  great  world  of  his 
tory  and  in  the  forward  movement  of  mind.  They 
wish  to  enter  fully  into  our  lives  and  to  be  allowed 
full  fellowship.  They  keenly  resent  the  charge  that 
they  are  inscrutable  and  unassimilable. 

That  there  are  no  psychological  differences  be 
tween  East  and  West  is  by  no  means  our  contention. 
There  certainly  are.  These  the  writer  has,  in  a  mea 
sure,  studied  and  described  in  his  work  on  "Japanese 
Evolution,  Social  and  Psychic."  Our  general  con 
tention  is  that  such  psychic  differences  as  distinguish 
the  East  from  the  West  are  products  of  social  life, 
belong  to  the  social  order,  and  are,  therefore,  subject 
to  rapid  change.  The  psychic  nature,  however,  is 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  145 

identical  East  and  West  because  it  is  human.  That 
which  unites  them  is  universal  and  cosmic,  while  that 
which  separates  them  is  superficial  and  insular.  On 
first  acquaintance  they  may  seem  inscrutable  and 
non-assimilable;  in  fact,  however,  there  is  no  insuper 
able  obstacle  to  complete  mutual  understanding  and 
assimilation.  The  entire  history  of  Japan  during  the 
past  fifty  years  is  one  grand  illustration  of  this. 
Japanese  character  is  rapidly  undergoing  changes 
now  that  feudalism  has  been  abandoned  and  occi 
dental  modes  of  political,  industrial,  educational, 
judicial,  and  social  organization  and  life  have  been 
introduced. 

Japan  herself  furnishes  the  refutation  to  the  argu 
ment  that  the  East  never  changes.  These  changes 
are  not  confined  to  the  surface  of  things  as  the  hard- 
pressed  critic  often  asserts;  they  take  place  in  the 
innermost  parts  of  the  Oriental's  life  of  the  spirit. 
China  is  rapidly  moving  now  along  the  same  road. 
Here  are  whole  peoples,  millions  upon  millions,  who 
are  voluntarily  taking  over  new  modes  of  thought, 
new  methods  of  life,  new  conceptions  of  the  world. 
Who  can  logically  contend  that  these  changes,  intro 
duced  from  the  West,  will  not  and  cannot  effect 
changes  in  their  inner  character  and  bring  them  into 
ever  closer  similarity  to  the  West? 

Old  Japan,  Japan  before  the  advent  of  Perry,  was 
apparently  so  fixed,  and  her  mode  of  thought  and 
life  and  reasoning  so  different  from  those  of  the  West, 


146    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

that  the  contention  of  unassimilable  race  differences 
might  have  seemed  logically  and  experimentally  de 
fensible.  But  that  contention  can  no  longer  stand. 
New  Japan  has  destroyed  it,  for  she  is  rapidly 
assimilating  our  entire  occidental  civilization  and 
thereby  bringing  her  inner  life  into  increasingly  close 
harmony  with  ours.  The  degree  to  which  Japan  has 
already  advanced  in  assimilation  of  occidental  civi 
lization  is  little  appreciated  in  the  West.  The  aver 
age  tourist  in  Japan  misses  the  most  significant  ele 
ments  of  new  Japan  through  his  interest  in  that  which 
is  merely  quaint  or  curious. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE  ?  (CONTINUED) 

IN  view  of  the  facts  and  principles  already  consid 
ered,  we  might  rest  our  discussion  at  this  point,  and 
argue  that  the  objection  to  the  presence  of  Japanese 
in  America  which  is  based  on  the  confusion  of  assimi 
lation  with  amalgamation  is  baseless.  Since  assimi 
lation  goes  on  independently  of  amalgamation,  the 
objection  falls  to  the  ground.  A  correspondent,  for 
instance,  says:  "The  essential  objection  to  my  mind 
to  having  Japanese  in  this  country  is  that  we  should 
not  take  into  our  midst  a  people  with  whom  we  can 
not  amalgamate."  An  adequate  reply  is  that  amal 
gamation  is  not  a  necessary  consequence  of  having 
them  here,  and  that  since  complete  assimilation  to 
our  civilization  can  take  place  without  intermarriage, 
the  objection  raised  to  their  presence  is  not  valid. 

President  Eliot  makes  substantially  the  same 
point  in  his  report,  already  referred  to.  "The  immi 
gration  question  need  not  be  complicated  with  any 
racial  problem,  provided  each  of  the  several  races 
abiding  in  the  same  territory  keeps  itself  pure,  as 
the  Japanese  do  wherever  they  live."  He  points  out 

147 


148    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

with  repeated  insistence  that  in  the  East  different 
races  have  learned  the  wisdom  of  maintaining  their 
race  purity  even  though  occupying  the  same  territory. 

However,  since  many  feel  that  the  presence  of 
Japanese  in  our  midst  will  inevitably  lead  to  amal 
gamation  of  races,  specific  consideration  of  this 
question  seems  desirable. 

The  condition  most  favorable  for  race  assimilation 
is  that  which  arises  when  an  alien  father  enters  into 
the  civilization  of  the  mother,  is  accepted  by  her  kin 
dred,  and  the  child  is  reared  in  full  parental  love  with 
the  friendship  of  kindred.  Here  the  child  receives 
no  social  disability  from  the  father's  alien  blood.  In 
case  the  family  has  the  necessary  financial  ability 
and  the  mother  herself  is  possessed  of  the  best  social 
heritage,  that  is  to  say,  the  culture  of  her  race  as 
expressed  in  the  language,  literature,  music,  art, 
morality,  and  religion  of  her  people,  these  are  im 
parted  to  her  child  not  otherwise  than  if  the  father 
were  one  of  her  own  race.  Social  is  here  aided  by 
biological  assimilation. 

Where  such  ideal  conditions  can  be  secured  it 
would  probably  make  no  difference  whether  the 
father  were  Hindoo,  Chinese,  Japanese,  Arab,  or 
Negro.  The  essential  point  is  that  the  mother  would 
love  and  rear  her  child  without  having  to  overcome 
social  obstruction  in  the  shape  of  race  prejudice  and 
more  or  less  of  social  ostracism.  Children  are  as 
similated  to  the  race  of  the  mother  more  easily 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  149 

than  to  that  of  the  father,  because  the  mother,  of 
necessity,  uses  her  native  tongue  in  rearing  her 
children. 

Assimilation,  however,  may  take  place,  as  has 
already  been  stated,  regardless  of  intermarriage. 
In  case  the  child  is  adopted  at  infancy  by  parents 
of  another  race  having  the  requisite  education,  cul 
ture,  and  means  for  it,  and  in  case  they  love  and  rear 
it  as  their  own,  the  child  in  question  will  be  com 
pletely  assimilated  psychically  though  not  in  the 
least  biologically. 

The  case  is  much  more  difficult  in  which  the  par 
ents  migrate  to  an  alien  land  and  there  bear  and 
rear  their  children.  The  degree  in  which  the  chil 
dren  will  be  assimilated  to  the  new  civilization  will 
depend  on  many  factors,  but  they  are  wholly  social. 
Are  the  immigrants  welcomed  and  treated  as  friends 
by  the  adopted  land?  Do  the  parents  desire  to  give 
their  children  complete  education  in  the  language 
of  their  adopted  land  and  do  they  have  the  means 
for  it?  Or  do  they,  on  the  contrary,  desire  to  keep 
their  children  loyal  to  their  own  native  land,  giving 
them  little  or  no  foreign  education,  requiring  their 
children  to  master  their  own  ancestral  language  and 
literature?  And  further,  from  infancy,  does  the 
mother  sing  the  native  songs  to  her  children  and 
instil  feelings  of  patriotism  and  devotion  and  admi 
ration  for  national  heroes?  And,  on  the  other  hand, 
does  the  adopted  land  give  them  welcome  and  edu- 


150    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

cational,  economic,  and  social  opportunity  or  does 
it  refuse  these  or  at  least  begrudge  them? 

These  are  the  principal  factors  that  determine  the 
degree  of  social  assimilation  which  children  experi 
ence  in  a  foreign  land.  Of  course,  the  influence  of 
the  parents  may  be  exerted  in  one  direction,  while  that 
of  the  social,  educational,  and  economic  situation 
may  work  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  results 
will  be  mixed  and  highly  complex.  But  the  point  to 
be  clearly  remembered  is  that  the  degree  of  social 
assimilation  that  actually  takes  place  depends  en 
tirely  on  the  social  conditions  of  the  home  and  the 
environment. 

The  United  States  has  been  an  extraordinary  ex 
perimental  laboratory  of  assimilation.  Here  all  the 
peoples  of  Europe  have  intermingled.  First  social 
assimilation  went  on  apace  and  then  race  inter 
marriage.  As  to  the  complete  social  assimilation  of 
the  descendants  of  all  immigrants  from  Europe  of 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  no  one  has 
any  doubt.  This  may  be  vaguely  thought  by  some 
to  have  taken  place  through  intermarriage,  but  that 
is  far  from  the  case.  Are  there  not  many  families 
of  unmixed  Puritan,  German,  or  Dutch  ancestry, 
and  yet  are  they  the  less  American?  Do  they  lack 
in  social  assimilation? 

A  striking  illustration  of  biological  race  purity 
combined  with  social  assimilation  is  afforded  by  the 
Jews.  Their  religious  faith  and  the  religious  hatred 


lEt 

f   o   3 

•gag 

PI 

c  £.2 


- 

•II 


cS   t£  C 

3  5  u 

11 


Jl 


H  s 


111 
II! 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  151 

of  Christians  in  Europe  throughout  the  centuries 
served  to  prevent  their  intermarriage  with  the 
peoples  among  whom  they  lived.  Nevertheless, 
they  with  difficulty  preserved  their  Hebrew  tongue. 
Wherever  the  political  and  social  antipathies  have 
even  partially  broken  down  the  Jews  have  lost  their 
Hebrew  language,  as  in  Germany,  France,  England, 
and  America. 

In  the  United  States  they  are  entering  into  such 
full  political  and  social  intercourse  with  other  races 
that  marriage  restrictions  are  now  rapidly  giving 
way.  If  the  present  movement  continues,  it  will 
only  be  a  matter  of  time  before  the  Jews  of  America 
will  be  as  completely  assimilated,  biologically,  as  the 
French  Huguenots  have  been.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the 
many  obstacles  that  have  interfered  with  assimila 
tion,  both  biological  and  social,  who  will  say  that 
the  Jews  of  New  York  of  the  third  and  fourth  gen 
eration  are  not,  politically  and  socially,  well  assimi 
lated  to  our  American  life?  They  are  cordial  sup 
porters  of  our  social  order  and  are  taking  their  share 
in  the  progressive  moral  and  spiritual  movements  of 
the  times.  Surely  they  are  as  loyal  Americans  and 
patriotic  citizens  as  we  have. 

The  power  of  the  free  political,  judicial,  educa 
tional,  and  economic  institutions  of  America  to  assim 
ilate  the  various  antagonistic  populations  of  Europe 
is  one  of  the  striking  features  of  modern  life.  Our  in 
stitutions  are  being  put  to  a  terrific  test  by  millions 


152    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

of  raw  immigrants.  But  the  evidence  is  clear  and 
convincing  that  from  these  masses,  even  in  the  second 
generation,  we  are  securing  enthusiastic  and  intelli 
gent  Americans,  loyal  to  the  core  to  the  characteristic 
features  of  our  country. 

But  the  significant  fact  is  that  these  assimilative 
processes  are  social  rather  than  biological,  and  can, 
therefore,  take  place  with  amazing  rapidity.  And 
this  is  exactly  because  it  takes  place  in  the  realm  of 
the  soul  and  not  of  the  blood. 

Here  we  come  upon  one  of  the  outstanding  char 
acteristics  of  man  as  man.  The  individual  human 
soul  is  both  formed  and  transformed  by  social 
heredity,  whereas  the  animal  body  is  dependent  for 
nature  and  life  on  biological  heredity.  Advantages 
derived  by  cat  or  bird  or  dog  through  happy  parental 
mutations  or  variations  (even  if,  with  Neo-Lamarck- 
ians,  we  allow  the  inheritance  of  acquired  characters) 
are  transmitted  only  to  direct  progeny.  In  man  any 
advantageous  psychic,  social,  or  economic  variation 
is  transmissible,  not  alone  to  biological  offspring,  but 
to  every  member  of  the  human  race. 

We  have  high  authority  for  holding  that  the  true 
children  of  Abraham  are  not  they  who  inherit  his 
blood  but  they  who  share  his  spirit.  In  a  word,  the 
characteristics  of  man  as  man  belong  to  the  realm  of 
the  spirit  and  are  communicable  by  social  heredity, 
regardless  of  the  question  of  biological  descent. 

The  intermarriage  of  whites  and  Japanese  is  not 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  153 

analogous  to  that  of  whites  and  Negroes.  This  for 
various  reasons.  Caucasians  and  Japanese  are,  to 
begin  with,  much  closer.  The  Japanese  race  already 
contains  considerable  white  blood.  Many  a  Jap 
anese  of  high  social  rank  could  easily  pass  for  an 
Italian  or  Spaniard.  Furthermore,  the  two  races 
have  lived  under  the  same  general  climatic  condi 
tions  for  over  two  thousand  years  in  the  north  tem 
perate  zone.  Their  general  courses  of  civilizational 
development,  likewise,  have  been  strikingly  parallel. 
Both  have  experienced  no  little  social  discipline — if 
anything,  the  discipline  of  the  Japanese  being  more 
severe  than  that  of  the  European.  Both  possess 
highly  developed  industrial  and  political  institutions. 

In  actual  experience  results  are  what  we  should 
expect.  The  offspring  of  mixed  marriages  are  often 
times  practically  indistinguishable  from  Caucasians. 
The  color  distinction  is  the  first  to  break  down.  The 
Japanese  hair  and  eye  exert  a  stronger  influence. 
So  far  as  the  observation  of  the  writer  goes,  there  is  a 
tendency  to  striking  beauty  in  Americo-Japanese. 
The  mental  ability,  also,  of  the  offspring  of  Japanese 
and  white  marriages  is  not  inferior  to  that  of  chil 
dren  of  either  race. 

In  Tokyo  there  are  not  less  than  a  score  of  families 
of  mixed  marriages.  The  father,  in  most  cases,  was 
a  student  in  some  foreign  land  for  a  number  of  years. 
He  married  a  German,  English,  French,  or  Ameri 
can  girl  and  brought  her  home  to  Japan.  There, 


154    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

oppressed  by  no  social  disgrace,  possessed  of  the 
financial  and  social  ability  to  bring  up  the  children 
to  the  best  of  his  knowledge,  with  the  aid  of  his 
foreign  wife  to  give  what  foreign  accomplishments 
he  might  not  otherwise  be  able  to  provide,  he  is 
disproving  by  his  children  the  sinister  predictions  of 
race  prejudice. 

There  are  also  in  Japan  foreign  gentlemen  who 
are  rearing  Anglo-Japanese,  German-Japanese,  and 
Franco-Japanese  families.  Here,  too,  the  results, 
as  a  rule,  are  not  unsatisfactory.  Viscount  Aoki, 
for  instance,  has  a  German  wife.  His  eldest  daugh 
ter  was  recently  married  to  a  German  baron  and  has 
gone  to  live  permanently  in  Germany.  The  wife  of 
Mr.  Ozaki,  until  recently  the  mayor  of  the  city  of 
Tokyo,  was  the  daughter  of  a  Japanese  father  and 
an  English  mother.  She  has  proved  herself  a  bril 
liant  author  in  several  English  books  on  things  Jap 
anese.  The  late  editor  of  the  Japan  Mail,  Captain 
Brinkley,  for  over  forty  years  a  resident  of  Japan, 
author  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important 
works  on  Japan,  had  a  Japanese  wife  and  successfully 
reared  a  large  family  of  boys  and  girls. 

Japanese  in  America,  also,  not  a  few,  have  married 
Americans.  Doctor  Takamine,  for  instance,  the 
illustrious  discoverer  of  adrenalin,  married  an  Amer 
ican  lady,  born  and  reared  in  New  Orleans.  Of  his 
two  sons,  one  has  completed  his  college  course  at 
Yale  University  and  is  at  present  studying  in  Paris 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  155 

in  the  Pasteur  Institute  for  his  Ph.D.  The  other  is 
preparing  for  business.  Mr.  Kawakami,  the  illus 
trious  author  of  several  important  works  in  English 
on  Japan,  has  an  American  wife,  whose  children,  still 
young,  are  said  to  be  so  American  that  no  one  would 
suspect  a  Japanese  father.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fuku- 
shima  (the  latter  a  Caucasian),  of  New  York,  have  an 
interesting  family  of  four  daughters.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Aoki,  of  Los  Angeles,  have  three  beautiful  Caucasian- 
appearing  children,  who  show  the  race  traits  of  their 
mother. 

In  some  cases  the  offspring  of  mixed  marriages  are 
remarkably  precocious.  I  personally  know  the  only 
daughter  of  a  Japanese  father  and  a  Chinese  mother. 
The  mother  from  infancy  had  good  American  care 
and  education  and  later,  from  fourteen  or  fifteen 
years  of  age,  she  received  Japanese  education.  She 
proved  to  have  unusual  musical  gifts.  The  father  is 
a  Japanese  of  the  Japanese,  unyielding  in  his  loyalty 
to  Japanese  ideals.  The  daughter,  reared  in  Cali 
fornia  and  Hawaii,  is  a  most  precocious  child  in  all 
subjects  save  arithmetic.  At  seven  years  of  age  she 
was  reading  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  to  herself  with 
great  avidity.  Fairy-tales  and  nature  books  she 
has  read  by  the  dozen,  although  but  slightly  over 
eight  years  old.  On  leaving  with  her  mother  for  a 
distant  town,  she  borrowed  Hawthorne's  works  in 
four  volumes,  as  she  was  then  in  the  midst  of  his 
" Twice-Told  Tales"  and  could  not  bear  to  stop. 


156    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

There  are  few  girls  of  her  age  who  have  read  so 
many  books. 

Although  the  period  during  which  intermarriage 
between  white  and  Japanese  is  still  so  short  that  the 
results  of  several  generations  of  amalgamation  are 
not  to  be  had,  yet  it  is  clear  from  such  experience  as 
is  already  available  that  when  the  home  circum 
stances  are  wholesome  and  the  children  are  reared 
with  care,  such  as  would  be  given  were  there  no  race 
mixture,  the  results  are  good  both  as  to  psychic 
powers  and  physical  appearances.  It  is  not  yet 
clear  whether  we  can  say,  as  in  the  case  of  the  mix 
ture  of  Hawaiian  and  Chinese,  that  the  results  are 
superior.  Experimentation  must  go  on  for  several 
decades  and  on  a  much  wider  scale  before  we  may 
expect  definite  results. 

Biologists  will  ask  whether  Eurasians  are  not  apt 
to  be  sterile.  I  know  of  four  Japanese  Eurasians 
who  have  children,  while  I  know  of  no  married 
Japanese  Eurasian  who  has  none.  Some  assert  that 
Eurasian  children  are  weak  and  defective.  Refer 
ence  is  made  to  the  Eurasian  population  of  the 
ports  of  India,  China,  and  Japan.  These  do,  in 
deed,  tell  a  pitiful  tale  of  moral  degradation  and 
of  indifference  to  the  welfare  of  their  offspring  on  the 
part  of  immoral  white  fathers.  This  reference,  how 
ever,  confirms  the  argument.  Any  children,  what 
ever  their  race  and  however  pure,  reared  as  those 
pitiable  Eurasians  have  been,  forgotten  by  their 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  157 

fathers  and  neglected  by  their  ignorant  mothers, 
who  belong  to  the  lowest  classes,  would  fall  into 
the  same  unhappy  condition.  Eurasian  children  of 
the  ports  have,  as  a  rule,  never  received  the  full  social 
heritage  of  either  parent,  and  this  not  because  of 
any  incapacity  of  the  offspring  at  birth  but  solely 
because  of  the  morally  culpable  indifference  and 
ignorance  of  the  parents. 

Having  said  thus  much  in  defence  of  the  good  re 
sults  of  intermarriage  between  whites  and  Japanese, 
the  writer  would  now  add,  with  all  the  emphasis  of 
which  he  is  capable,  that  he  does  not  recommend 
such  intermarriage  to  either  Japanese  or  Americans. 
Mixed  marriages  he  regards  as  highly  undesirable. 
In  only  exceptional  cases  can  there  be  a  "happy 
home."  It  may  be  set  down  as  a  universal  rule  that 
intermarriage  of  races  should  follow,  not  precede, 
social  assimilation.  Suppose  that  a  Japanese  man 
of  ordinary  social  rank  and  corresponding  means 
marries  an  American  wife  in  America  and  takes  her 
back  with  him  to  Japan.  He  has  his  ideal  of  a 
home — a  Japanese  home — and  she  has  hers  of  an 
American  home.  Her  position  in  her  Japanese  home, 
however,  is  largely  determined  by  the  ideals  and 
demands  of  his  mother  (her  mother-in-law)  and  by 
all  his  kindred.  Now,  for  an  American  girl  to  take 
up  life  in  a  Japanese  home,  first  coming  to  know  it 
in  adult  years;  for  her  to  begin  then  to  learn  the 
language  and  customs  of  Japan,  to  cook  and  to  eat 


158    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

their  food  and  live  entirely  as  they  do,  would  be  such 
an  awful  experience  that,  no  matter  how  much  her 
husband  might  love  and  seek  to  help  her,  it  would 
be  a  fearful  ordeal  and  could  hardly  end  in  perma 
nent  happiness.  Her  health  would  probably  give 
way  under  the  strain.  Moreover,  it  would  be  im 
possible  for  her  to  impart  to  her  children  a  Japanese 
social  heredity.  Although  she  might  seek  to  suppress 
her  social  influence,  that  would  be  only  partly  possi 
ble.  The  children  she  rears  could  not  but  be  partly 
foreign  in  manner  and  thought  as  well  as  in  looks. 
The  case,  however,  would  be  quite  different  if  the 
man  is  a  wealthy  Japanese  with  high  social  rank 
who,  even  in  Japan,  can  afford  to  live  and  prefers 
to  live  in  foreign  style  and  desires  his  children  to  be 
foreign.  The  probability  of  a  happy  marriage  would, 
in  this  case,  be  largely  increased.  But  unless  the 
Japanese  husband  adopts  to  a  large  degree  the 
wife's  ideal  of  the  social  freedom  of  women,  the 
American  wife  would  find  her  secluded  life  almost 
intolerable.  Such  cases  are  not  unknown  in  Japan. 
The  American  wife  who  goes  to  Japan  to  live  should, 
of  course,  be  prepared  to  accept  the  Japanese  ideal 
as  to  "the  home  and  the  duties,  obedience  and  respon 
sibilities  of  the  Japanese  wife.  Even  though  the 
husband  may  seek  to  relieve  and  help  her,  there  are 
the  relatives,  especially  the  female  relatives,  and 
peace  demands  acceptance,  also,  of  their  ideals  or 
collision  will  result  and  unhappiness  follow. 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  159 

The  situation,  however,  would  be  altogether  differ 
ent  if  the  Japanese  husband,  coming  young  to  Amer 
ica,  gets  his  education  here  and  here  settles  down  for 
life.  The  question  of  a  happy  marriage  would  then 
depend  on  the  personal  qualities  of  the  couple  and  on 
the  social  acceptance  by  her  family  and  social  circle 
of  her  Japanese  husband.  In  this  case  he  must  be 
prepared  to  accept  American  ideals.  If  he  does  so 
cordially  there  may  perhaps  be  no  intrinsic  objec 
tion  to  the  marriage.  But,  even  so,  there  is  more 
risk  than  there  would  be  were  both  members  white. 

The  marriage,  however,  of  an  American  woman 
with  a  Japanese  farmer  coming  from  Japan  after 
reaching  adult  life  would  be  highly  dangerous.  Such 
a  man  could  not  possibly  gain  any  such  knowledge 
of  the  American  home  or  American  ideals  as  would 
be  essential. 

For  an  American  man,  on  the  other  hand,  to  marry 
a  Japanese  wife  would  be  unsatisfactory  for  reasons 
of  another  order.  Much  would  depend,  of  course,  on 
the  country  in  which  they  live  and  the  desires  of  the 
husband.  In  any  case,  it  would  be  relatively  easy 
for  her  because  of  the  larger  freedom  given  to  a  wife 
by  Americans  than  by  Japanese.  Should  he  desire, 
however,  to  have  his  children  brought  up  as  Ameri 
cans,  while  living  in  Japan,  his  Japanese  wife  could 
not  aid  him.  Inevitably,  she  would  transmit  the 
Japanese  social  inheritance.  She  would  talk  and 
sing  to  the  children  in  Japanese.  Do  what  she  might 


160    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

and  with  all  her  heart,  striving  to  learn  the  English 
language  and  to  be  like  an  American,  yet  she  would 
be  helpless.  The  case  would  be  different  should  the 
pair  live  in  the  United  States,  for  the  children  would 
there  acquire  much  from  their  social  surroundings, 
especially  after  they  begin  to  attend  school. 

But,  without  entering  into  further  detail,  enough 
has  been  said  to  indicate  something  of  the  peril  of 
mixed  marriages.  Under  the  most  favorable  condi 
tions,  marriage  is  to  be  entered  on  only  with  great 
care.  It  is  a  hazardous  undertaking  when  the  mem 
bers  belong  to  different  races. 

Were  the  social  assimilation  of  races  dependent 
on  intermarriage,  the  outlook  for  the  United  States 
would  be,  indeed,  foreboding.  Such,  however,  is 
not  the  case.  It  proceeds  independently,  for  it 
is  a  matter  of  social  inheritance  and  is  transmitted 
entirely  through  social  relations. 

The  great  obstacle  to  the  social  assimilation  of  race 
is  race  aggregation,  which  preserves  race  language 
and  customs;  and  this  is  equally  true  of  any  race. 
Provide  for  social  intermixture  with  the  joint  edu 
cation  of  the  children  and  assimilation  will  take 
place  with  amazing  rapidity. 

Now,  Japanese  residing  in  America  desire  to  have 
their  children  associate  with  Americans  that  they 
may  learn  American  customs  and  the  English  lan 
guage.  The  number  of  Japanese  reared  from  infancy 
in  America  is  still  few.  But  in  spite  of  the  anti- 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  161 

Japanese  sentiment,  which  does  not  furnish  the  most 
favorable  environment,  the  results  are  surprising. 
Japanese  children  soon  become  so  Americanized 
that  they  have  no  difficulty  in  making  friendships. 

The  results  in  Hawaii  of  American  education  on 
children  of  all  races  are  highly  instructive  from  the 
sociological  standpoint,  justifying  the  belief  that, 
even  in  sections  where  the  majority  of  the  families 
are  not  American  but  Japanese,  Chinese,  Portuguese, 
and  Hawaiian,  yet  the  .American  school  succeeds  to 
a  wonderful  degree  in  imparting  the  American  lan 
guage  and  social  heritage. 

Even  under  the  present  relatively  unfavorable 
conditions  existing  in  California,  evidences  crop  out 
here  and  there  of  the  transforming  power  of  our 
schools  on  young  Japanese.  I  cite  two  concrete  illus 
trations. 

It  seems  that  in  the  high  school  in  Oakland, 
California,  there  are  enough  Japanese  boys  to  form  a 
small  Japanese  club.  This  is  not  due,  I  am  told,  in 
any  way  to  ostracism,  but  merely  for  mutual  im 
provement.  Yet  those  boys  are  so  Americanized 
that  they  refer  to  the  Japanese  population  in  the 
third  person,  classing  themselves  with  Americans. 
An  auditor  was  amused  to  hear  those  boys  say, 
in  discussing  the  problem  of  the  Japanese  in  Cali 
fornia,  that  the  only  thing  to  do  is  for  "us  to  edu 
cate  them  and  teach  them  true  American  ways." 

An  amusing  illustration  of  this  same  Americanized 


162    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

spirit  is  reported  from  a  kindergarten  in  Los  An 
geles.  A  five-year  old  Japanese  boy  was  found  by 
his  father  one  day  last  April  sobbing  bitterly.  On 
asking  the  reason,  the  little  fellow  replied  after  some 
hesitation:  "There's  going  to  be  war  between  Japan 
and  America  and  I'll  have  to  fight  you  because  you 
are  a  Japanese." 

While  preparing  the  present  chapter  the  writer 
called  upon  a  Japanese  family  living  in  Berkeley, 
California.  The  father  is  a  successful  business  man 
in  San  Francisco,  of  twenty  years'  standing.  The 
wife  is  the  mother  of  five  children,  the  two  older  ones 
born  in  Japan  and  the  others  here  in  America.  They 
are  all  attending  school,  the  eldest,  a  son,  having 
just  entered  the  university.  They  are  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  American  children.  I  was  especially 
impressed  with  the  daughter,  some  eighteen  years  of 
age.  Such  a  girl  would  be  absolutely  impossible  in 
Japan,  perfectly  free  and  easy  in  her  conversation 
with  a  man,  yet  perfectly  modest  and  womanly, 
ready  to  look  you  straight  in  the  eye,  yet  without  a 
sign  of  rudeness  or  brazen  character.  She  is  fond  of 
the  piano,  in  which  she  excels.  All  the  children 
stated  that  they  have  no  friction  or  unpleasantness 
with  American  young  people.  They  have  friend 
ships  and  visit  back  and  forth.  Here  is  a  family  of 
culture,  the  peer  of  any  American  family,  already 
remarkably  assimilated  socially,  though  of  perfectly 
pure  Japanese  stock. 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  163 

In  estimating  the  problem  of  Japanese  assimila- 
bility,  there  is  one  important  factor  which  an  Amer 
ican  would  hardly  surmise  and  which  he  cannot 
easily  grasp,  namely,  the  enormous  difficulty  of  the 
Japanese  language.  A  long  exposition  of  its  char 
acteristics  would  be  needed  to  illustrate  this  point 
adequately.  The  difficulty  may  be  suggested  by  the 
statement  that  no  Japanese  child  reared  wholly 
in  America  can  acquire  both  an  English  education 
and  a  reading  knowledge  of  his  own  language.  If 
he  remains  in  America  till  he  is  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  old  and  then  returns  to  Japan,  he  is  already  so 
badly  handicapped  that  it  is  exceedingly  difficult 
for  him  to  get  into  the  Japanese  school  system.  Jap 
anese  children  in  Hawaii  and  California  after  school 
hours  commonly  attend,  from  four  to  six  P.  M.,  some 
Japanese  school  for  the  study  of  their  own  language. 
They  find,  on  reaching  the  age  of  ten  or  twelve,  that 
they  can  read  anything  in  English  which  their  minds 
can  understand,  while  in  Japanese  they  are  still 
struggling  with  the  mere  forms  of  the  Chinese  ideo 
graphs.  English  they  find  easy,  while  their  own 
language  they  find  increasingly  difficult  and  dis 
tasteful. 

The  result  is  that  Japanese  children  reared  in 
America  lose  the  reading  power  of  their  own  language 
far  more  surely  and  rapidly  than  those  of  any  Euro 
pean  immigrants.  This  is  an  important  fact,  for  it 
means  that  Japanese  of  the  second  generation  in 


164    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

America  are  more  rapidly  and  completely  cut  off 
from  the  social  and  historical  influence  of  their  people 
than  are  American-born  aliens  of  any  other  race. 

Among  the  most  common  assertions  of  Japanese 
critics  is  the  statement  that  Japanese  have  an  in 
nate,  instinctive  patriotism,  which  renders  impossi 
ble  their  surrender  of  allegiance  to  their  native  land 
and  desire  for  citizenship  elsewhere.  This  fact,  says 
the  critic,  makes  it  impossible  for  him  to  become  a 
truly  patriotic  citizen  of  another  land  or  be  truly 
assimilated.  Even  if  he  does  appear  to  do  so  in 
form,  it  is  only  in  form;  it  is  in  reality  a  sham,  and 
the  more  reprehensible  on  that  account,  and  also 
the  more  dangerous  to  the  adopted  land. 

This  objection  is  based  on  a  mistaken  psychology. 
Patriotism  is  a  psychic  trait  and  is  communicated 
or  inherited  wholly  by  social  means.  It  has  noth 
ing  whatever  to  do  with  physiological  or  biologi 
cal  heredity.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  many  Japanese 
lack  the  alleged  characteristic.  Foreign  residents  in 
Japan  are  occasionally  amazed  by  incidents  showing 
how  many  there  are  who  are  not  possessed  by  the 
conventional  spirit  of  patriotism.  A  large  number  of 
the  young  men  hate  military  service  and  seek  in 
every  legitimate  way,  and  sometimes  in  illegitimate 
ways,  to  escape  it. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Russia,  the  writer 
was  astonished  to  hear  of  a  shrine  in  the  Island  of 
Shikoku,  prayer  at  which  was  popularly  supposed  to 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  165 

secure  escape  from  the  draught.    Many  young  men 
of  military  age  made  pilgrimages  thither. 

Patriotism  is  psychic  and  is  transmitted  by  social, 
not  by  biological,  heredity.  The  fear,  therefore,  that 
Japanese,  even  of  successive  generations  born  in 
America,  can  never  be  assimilated  so  as  to  become 
truly  patriotic  Americans  is  baseless. 

Those  who  deny  the  assimilability  of  the  Japanese 
have  based  their  belief  on  a  theory  of  race  nature 
which  is  no  longer  tenable.  In  a  word,  they  are 
obsessed  by  the  biological  conception  of  man's  nature 
and  life.  They  do  not  recognize  the  psychic  or 
spiritual  factor,  nor  do  they  perceive  that  this  psy 
chic  factor  modifies  in  important  ways  even  man's 
physical  life.  They  think  of  heredity  only  in  terms 
of  biological  analogy  and  have  not  a  glimpse  of  social 
heredity  with  laws  wholly  its  own.  They,  accord 
ingly,  cannot  conceive  of  the  real  assimilation  by  one 
people  of  members  of  another  race  except  by  inter 
marriage  and  actual  interchange  of  biological  he 
redity.  Nor  can  they  understand  how,  from  groups 
of  different  peoples  and  races,  a  truly  homogeneous 
nation  can  arise,  except  through  intermarriage  and 
complete  blood  mixture. 

Professor  John  R.  Commons,  of  the  University  of 
Wiscorjsin,  well  expresses  the  consensus  of  modern 
scholarship  on  this  point  in  his  "Races  and  Immi 
grants  in  America,"  where  he  emphasizes  the  im 
portance  of  a  single  language  for  establishing  the 


166    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

unity  of  a  people.  "This  is  essential,  for  it  is  not 
physical  amalgamation  that  unites  mankind;  it  is  mental 
community.  To  be  great,  a  nation  need  not  be  of  one 
blood  jit  must  be  of  one  mind.  .  .  .  If  we  think  together 
we  can  act  together,  and  the  organ  of  common 
thought  and  action  is  common  language."  This 
principle  throws  floods  of  light  on  the  assimilation 
of  alien  groups. 

Observation  of  adult  Japanese  who  have  been  in 
California  for  a  few  years,  by  unsympathetic  Cali- 
fornians  who  have  never  been  in  Japan,  may  indeed 
seem  to  substantiate  the  view  as  to  Japanese  non- 
assimilability.  Observation,  however,  by  one  who 
has  lived  long  in  Japan  leads  to  the  opposite  con 
clusion.  The  degree  in  which  Japanese  in  California 
have  already  been  changed  is  highly  impressive  and 
prophetic.  An  American,  unfamiliar  with  the  Jap 
anese  in  their  own  land,  is  not  in  a  position  to  esti 
mate  the  changes  which  take  place  through  life  in 
this  land.  For  him  to  assert  that  Japanese  are 
unassimilable  shows  how  unscientific  is  the  bent  of 
his  mind. 

The  writer  was  told  by  an  experienced  Japanese 
teacher  of  children  in  Japan  that  one  of  his  impres 
sive  discoveries  on  coming  to  America  was  the  fact 
that  Japanese  children  born  and  reared  here  differ  so 
distinctly  from  children  in  Japan.  Their  spirit  and 
even  the  play  of  expression  on  their  faces  disclose 
the  subtle  influences  at  work  transforming  them. 


ARE  JAPANESE  ASSIMILABLE?  167 

Some  disputants  are  ready  to  admit  superficial 
changes,  but  in  dogged  defence  of 'their  theories  as 
sert  them  to  be  only  superficial.  "Down  beneath, 
the  Japanese  is  unchanged  and  unchangeable." 
"  Scratch  his  skin  and  you  will  find  a  Tartar."  Here 
race  prejudice  and  a  priori  dogmatism  speak.  Such 
a  method  of  argument  precludes  all  possibility  of 
scientific  discussion. 

Lafcadio  Hearn  is  quoted  in  proof  of  the  alleged 
non-assimilability  of  the  Japanese:  "Here  is  an 
astounding  fact.  The  Japanese  child  is  as  close  to 
you  as  the  European  child,  perhaps  closer  and 
sweeter,  because  infinitely  more  natural  and  natu 
rally  refined.  Cultivate  his  mind,  and  the  more  it 
is  cultivated  the  farther  you  push  him  from  you. 
Why?  Because  here  the  race  antipodalism  shows 
itself." 

Mr.  Hearn  has  well  observed  the  facts,  but  miser 
ably  failed  in  the  interpretation.  The  education  of 
the  Japanese  child  in  Japan  does,  indeed,  push  him 
away  from  you,  an  American,  because  it  gives  him 
the  Japanese  social  inheritance,  the  product  of  thou 
sands  of  years  of  divergent  social  evolution.  But 
educate  that  same  child  in  America,  give  him  the 
American  social  inheritance  and  the  English  lan 
guage  and  you  bind  him  the  more  closely  to  you. 
Just  here  is  the  fallacy  into  which  nearly  all  fall  who 
insist  on  Japanese  non-assimilability.  They  are 
talking  about  the  adult.  They  forget,  or  do  not 


168    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

know,  that  any  social  heritage  whatever  can  be 
given  to  any  child,  and  that,  therefore,  the  child  of 
any  race  can  be  assimilated,  socially,  to  any  other. 
And  this  exactly  is  the  reason  also  why  race  aggrega 
tions  in  any  land  are  relatively  non-assimilable.  It 
is  because  the  children  receive  the  social  heritage  of 
their  parents7  race  with  its  language  rather  than 
that  of  the  country  where  they  live. 

The  determined  defendant  of  Japanese  non-assim- 
ilability  displays  amazing  ignorance  of  the  results 
of  modern  science  which  has  completely  taken  the 
ground  from  under  his  feet. 

Adequate  scientific  data  are  indeed  lacking  in 
regard  to  the  desirability  of  biological  assimilation 
of  the  Japanese  and  white  races,  but  the  social  assim- 
ilability  of  the  Japanese  is  beyond  question.  In 
this  they  do  not  differ  from  any  other  people. 


CHAPTER  IX 
CAN  AMERICANS  ASSIMILATE  JAPANESE? 

IN  race  assimilation  there  are  always  two  parties, 
the  assimilated  and  the  assimilating.  Having  con 
sidered  this  problem  so  far  as  Japanese  nature  and 
capacity  are  concerned,  the  question  still  remains 
whether  we  are  ready  to  assimilate  them.  Are  we 
ready  to  give  them  such  opportunity  in  our  com 
mercial,  social,  moral,  and  religious  life  that  they 
can  fully  acquire  our  ways,  ideas,  ideals,  and  motives ?-k 

Judging  from  considerable  experience,  the  answer 
to  the  question  must  be  negative  for  northern  Cali 
fornia.  Not  only  day-laborers,  skilled  mechanics, 
and  labor  leaders,  but  large  numbers  of  educated 
people — politicians,  bankers,  lawyers,  merchants,  and 
educators — appear  to  be  unwilling  to  receive  the  Jap 
anese  in  any  way  whatever  into  our  political,  social, 
or  religious  life.  The  Asiatic  Exclusion  League  is 
bitterly  and  actively  opposed  to  all  Asiatics.  The 
secular  press,  especially  that  of  northern  California, 
is  actively  anti- Japanese.  Some  papers  seem  to  de 
light  in  maligning  the  race,  exaggerating  and  appar 
ently  fabricating  so-called  news  calculated  to  inflame 
race  passion.  Stringent  anti-Japanese  legislation  is 

169 


170    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

widely  approved.  Certain  Young  Men's  Christian 
Associations  refuse  membership  to  Japanese.  Many 
Christians  dislike  to  see  them  even  in  their  churches. 
That  social  relations  with  Japanese  are  impossible 
and  marriage  intolerable  are  emphatically  and  widely 
asserted. 

A  refined  and  cultivated  Japanese  lady,  graduate 
of  one  of  our  best  mission  schools  for  girls  in  Tokyo, 
a  resident  on  the  coast  for  a  dozen  years,  perfectly 
fluent  in  English  and  able  to  profit  by  an  English 
service,  says  she  has  given  up  going  to  church 
because  she  sees  it  gives  Americans  pain.  She  still 
remains  a  Christian. 

A  Japanese  man,  repeatedly  welcomed  in  a  certain 
church  by  one  of  the  deacons,  ventured  to  accost  him 
on  the  street  one  day,  but  was  amazed  to  hear  the 
words:  "I'm  your  friend  in  church  but  not  else 
where." 

While  Japanese  children  in  public  schools,  on  the 
whole,  receive  good  treatment  from  teachers  and 
schoolmates,  they  are  not  generally  welcomed  in 
Sunday-schools. 

In  1911  Professor  Nitobe  (pronounced  Neetobey), 
one  of  Japan's  brilliant  men,  was  on  his  way  through 
San  Francisco  to  the  East,  where  he  spent  the  year 
delivering  courses  of  lectures  on  Japan  in  half  a  dozen 
American  universities.  When  an  effort  was  made  in 
northern  California  to  secure  for  him  an  opportu 
nity  to  speak,  the  reply  was  made  in  at  least  two 


CAN  AMERICANS  ASSIMILATE  JAPANESE?  171 

cases  that  anti-Japanese  feeling  was  so  strong  that 
he  would  hardly  be  given  a  fair  hearing. 

How  universal  this  anti-Japanese  feeling  is  we 
have  no  means  of  knowing.  I  found  many  who 
have  no  sympathy  with  it.  Some  Calif ornians  de 
nounce  it  strongly ;  especially  women.  Those  who 
possess  it  represent  it  as  universal.  Those  who  do 
not,  contend  that  it  is  largely  confined  to  the  pop 
ulation  living  about  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  and 
in  and  about  Sacramento.  Some  facts  lend  color  to 
this  contention. 

One  thing  is  clear:  anti- Japanese  forces  are  or-*' 
ganized,  active,  and  vociferous,  while  pro-Japanese 
individuals,  however  many,  are  unorganized  and 
silent.  Practically,  therefore.  California  is  in  the 
grip  of  those  who  are  anti-Japanese.  It  is  a  psy 
chological  condition  which  must  be  recognized  and 
reckoned  with.  It  creates  a  serious  situation  and 
is  a  powerful  obstacle  delaying,  if  not  preventing, 
Japanese  assimilation.  For  race  feeling  makes  one 
ready  to  believe  the  bad  he  hears  and  gives  no  op 
portunity  for  hearing  the  good;  the  evil  deeds  of  a 
score  or  a  hundred  bad  Japanese  are  generalized  and 
regarded  as  characteristic  of  the  whole  hateful  gang. 
Race  feeling  invents  many  a  libel  which  passes  for 
solid  truth  and  serves  to  promote  and  to  justify  more 
race  feeling.  It  gives  no  opportunity  for  corrective 
experiences  and  knowledge.  Moreover,  it  weakens 
the  sense  of  moral  responsibility  and  makes  easy 


172    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

unjust  treatment  of  aliens.  This  is  then  condoned  or 
justified.  As  a  rule,  moreover,  nothing  is  heard  of 
the  sharp  practices  of  American  employers  of  Jap 
anese  labor. 

Race  feeling  is  one  of  those  emotions  of  which  the 
possessor  is  almost  inevitably  unconscious.  So 
subtly  does  it  work  that  the  subject  is  sure  he  is 
not  ruled  by  it;  on  the  contrary,  he  thinks  himself 
able  to  give  good  and  adequate  grounds  for  his 
antagonism;  the  object  of  his  dislike  is,  in  fact,  so 
immoral,  despicable,  and  unprincipled,  so  vulgar, 
ugly,  and  uncivilized,  or  at  the  very  best  so  abso 
lutely  different  that  any  attitude  toward  him  but 
that  of  opposition  and  dislike  is  incredible. 

The  customary  anti-Japanese  argument  is  that 
the  question  is  not  one  of  inferiority  or  superiority; 
as  a  simple  matter  of  fact,  the  Japanese  are  non- 
assimilable  and  undesirable;  they  are  immoral,  un 
trustworthy,  tricky,  clannish;  they  are,  therefore, 
intrinsically  unpleasant,  untrustworthy,  unaccept 
able.  It  is  impossible  to  like  them,  and  dangerous 
to  welcome  them  into  our  political  and  social  system, 
and  especially  unto  our  family  life. 

Several  answers  must  be  made  to  this  position, 
beyond  what  has  already  been  said  in  previous 
chapters. 

Of  course  it  is  psychologically  impossible  to  love 
the  unlovely,  to  like  the  disagreeable,  or  trust  the 
untrustworthy.  But  the  fundamental  fallacy  of  the 


CAN  AMERICANS  ASSIMILATE  JAPANESE?  173 

anti-Japanese  position  is  the  assumption  that  prac 
tically  all  Japanese  are  disagreeable  and  untrust 
worthy,  and  that  it  is  right,  therefore,  to  treat  them 
in  harmony  with  such  feelings.  Here  is  the  opportu 
nity  for  the  work  of  the  moral  will.  A  good,  strong 
man  can  disregard  his  instinctive  antipathies.  He  can 
and  will  deal  justly  and  kindly  by  the  man  whom  he 
does  not  know  or  like  and  is  inclined  to  distrust. 
His  goodness  will  conquer  the  instinctive  race  preju 
dice  in  his  own  heart,  and  by  his  just  and  kindly 
treatment  of  the  alien  will  win  him;  and  when  that 
has  been  done  the  good  man  can  trust  and  even  love 
the  alien  who  once  may  indeed  have  been  a  bad  man. 
Just  this  is  one  of  the  central  truths  and  vitalizing 
elements  of  the  Christian  gospel  throughout  the 
ages:  "God  loved  us  while  we  were  still  sinners." 
"We  love  him  because  he  first  loved  us."  Through 
out  all  time,  it  is  the  self -giving,  even  suffering  love 
of  the  good  for  the  bad  that  overcomes  the  bad  and 
makes  them  good.  True  love  is  prophetic  and  crea 
tive.  It  does  not  hold  off  the  unlovely  and  abso-v 
lutely  refuse  all  relationship  until  it  has  become 
lovely.  Goodness  goes  out  into  the  byways  and 
hedges.  It  seeks  the  man  in  the  gutter,  the  woman 
on  the  street  corner,  and  the  stranger  in  illness  or 
prison  or  trouble.  It  extends  the  helping,  friendly 
hand,  and  by  trusting  makes  trustworthy  those  who 
had  been  false.  This  is  the  secret  of  all  moral  re-S- 
generation.  It  assimilates  the  bad  to  the  good  by 


174    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

subordinating  the  instinctive,  selfish  emotions  to  the 
rational  and  moral  will.  My  experiences  in  Japan 
assure  me  that  the  Japanese,  because  of  their  long 
feudal  history  and  character  formed  thereby,  are 
peculiarly  susceptible  to  the  influences  of  personal 
good- will  and  kindness;  that  is,  they  are  peculiarly 
assimilable  under  right  and  wholesome  moral  in 
fluences. 

Evil  in  the  Japanese  will  not  be  overcome  by  evil  in 
us  nor  by  refusal  to  associate  with  them,  but  only  by 
positive  outgoing  goodness.  By  this  alone  can  we 
draw  them  to  our  ideals  of  life,  and  when  that  is 
accomplished  we  shall  find  that  we  can  like  and  even 
love  them.  But  let  us  remember  that  in  every  case 
we  must  deal  with  the  individual. 

The  danger  to  ourselves  of  seeking  to  assimilate 
those  unlike  us,  especially  in  moral  ideal,  may  be 
admitted;  but  all  social  life  has  its  dangers.  Re 
fusal  of  social  relations  is  highly  dangerous.  Our 
own  development,  indeed,  depends  on  meeting  and 
rightly  conquering  dangers. 

The  writer  does  not  advocate  ostentatious  profes 
sions  of  friendship  for  Japanese.  He  does  not  ask 
business  men  to  trust  irresponsible  Japanese,  nor 
that  cultured  American  ladies  shall  treat  as  intimate 
companions  uneducated  Japanese  women  who  can 
speak  little  or  no  English;  they  need  not  assert  fond 
friendship  for,  and  insist  on  society  relations  with, 
domestics  or  farm-hands.  The  Japanese  who  has  de- 


CAN  AMERICANS  ASSIMILATE  JAPANESE?  175 

liberately  deceived  or  defrauded  can  no  more  be 
trusted  or  admitted  to  one's  home  or  into  business 
relations  than  a  white  man  who  has  done  the  same 
thing.  It  is  always  important  to  insist  on  strict  accu 
racy  and  honesty;  that  is  the  truly  kind  policy. 
But  let  the  employer  or  mistress  be  sure  that  the 
employed  really  understands  what  is  wanted.  And 
be  sure  also  that  the  work  required  or  payment 
offered  is  not  unreasonable.  And,  in  cases  of  diffi 
culty,  call  in  the  secretary  of  the  Japanese  Associa 
tion,  and  always  give  the  other  side  the  benefit  of  the* 
doubt. 

In  dealing  with  a  Japanese,  remember  that  he  is  aT 
stranger  and  among  a  people  to  him  very,  very 
strange.  His  training  has  been  feudal  and  his  mo 
rality  the  same.  He  is  a  child  in  matters  financial; 
sharp  intellectually,  but  without  inherited  business 
principles  and,  as  a  rule,  quite  without  business  ex 
perience.  Be  kind  in  ways  of  personal  favor  and  win 
his  personal  good-will.  Let  him  share  in  Christmas 
and  other  pleasures ;  ask  after  his  health  and  his  rela 
tives.  If  he  has  children,  notice  them  and  occasion 
ally  give  them  a  present.  Never  order  him  about  in 
surly  or  impatient  tones,  and  above  all  never  resort 
to  brute  force.  Many  Americans  and  Europeans 
have  the  idea  that  brute  force  is  the  only  way  to  get 
an  Asiatic  to  obey;  it  is  the  greatest  mistake  in  the 
world,  certainly  so  far  as  Japanese  are  concerned. 

AYhen,  as  occasionally  happens,  Japanese  of  cul- 


176    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

ture,  education,  and  good  command  of  English  ap 
pear,  be  ready  to  go  at  least  half-way  in  friendliness. 
Acquaintance  will  in  some  cases  ripen  into  apprecia 
tion  and  finally  into  mutual  friendship.  The  writer 
asks  for  no  forcing  process,  no  artificial  professions. 
All  he  asks  is  that  Japanese  be  not  treated  differently 
from  aliens  of  any  other  land  and  turned  down  at 
the  outset  merely  because  they  are  Asiatic.  Give 
every  man  a  chance  on  the  basis  of  his  own  individual 
character.  True  friendships  can  arise  only  as  there 
is  mutual  advance  and  response. 

As  an  instance  of  kindly  treatment,  consider  the 
following:  An  owner  of  a  ranch  not  far  from  San 
Jos6  employs  one  Japanese  permanently  and  four 
during  the  summer.  He  has  been  much  perplexed 
how  to  get  at  them,  for  they  know  so  little  English 
and  he,  of  course,  knows  no  Japanese.  He  recently 
met  a  returned  lady  missionary  from  Japan  and  soon 
arranged  to  have  her  make  him  a  visit.  On  the  day 
appointed  the  Japanese  workers  were  told  of  the 
coming  of  the  missionary  and  were  given  time  off 
for  an  interview.  They  dressed  themselves  in  their 
best  and  in  due  time  appeared.  The  host  invited 
them  into  his  parlor  and  later  to  the  veranda,  pro 
viding  refreshments  and  treating  them  as  guests. 
For  several  hours  the  conversation  went  on  in 
Japanese,  one  of  the  men  proving  to  be  a  well- 
educated  and  devout  Buddhist.  At  the  close,  acting 
as  spokesman,  he  thanked  the  missionary  and  the 


CAN  AMERICANS  ASSIMILATE  JAPANESE?     177 

host  for  their  kindness,  and  said  he  had  lived  in 
California  for  six  years  and  this  was  the  first  time 
that  any  one  had  ever  spoken  to  him  about  Christi 
anity. 

Does  not  this  incident  provide  a  suggestion? 
Many  scores  of  missionaries  pass  through  San  Fran 
cisco  every  year,  on  their  way  to  and  from  Japan, 
who  might  be  utilized  in  such  ways  as  this.  Many 
of  them  could  arrange  to  remain  on  the  coast  a  few 
days  in  order  to  render  such  service.  The  essential 
condition,  however,  would  be  the  desire  of  employers 
of  Japanese  for  such  aid.  A  central  office  in  San 
Francisco  should  be  established  to  which  requests 
could  be  sent,  with  provision  for  the  travel  and  enter 
tainment  of  the  missionaries.  The  office  should,  of 
course,  get  into  touch  with  the  missionaries  before 
they  complete  their  arrangements  for  dates  of  arrival 
at  and  departure  from  San  Francisco,  and  thus  allow 
time  for  trips  into  the  country. 

But  the  question  will  still  be  asked:  If  assimilated, 
will  the  Japanese  be  a  desirable  addition  to  our  peo 
ple,  improving  our  stock,  our  social  life,  and  our  civ- 
ilization?  To  this  question  several  answers  must  be 
given. 

Intermarriage  of  Japanese  and  whites,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  has  taken  place  so  seldom  as  yet  that 
no  clear  scientific  answer  can  be  made  in  regard  to 
its  results.  There  has  not  even  been  a  scientific 
collection  of  such  facts  as  are  available. 


178    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

The  marriage  of  whites  with  agricultural  Japanese 
would  probably  increase  the  vigor  but  not  add  to  the 
beauty  of  American  stock,  while  intermarriage  with 
the  middle  and  higher  classes  of  Japanese  would 
probably  add  a  new  type  of  beauty. 

"i 

Japanese,  again,  are  famous  for  their  supple  fingers 
and  dexterous  hands,  which  give  them  marked  fit 
ness  for  certain  industries  as  well  as  for  art.  Would 
not  acquisition  by  Occidentals  of  these  traits  be  a 
gain? 

Among  offspring  of  mixed  marriages,  some  indp 
viduals  would  doubtless  possess  the  characteristic 
Japanese  aesthetic  and  also  mystic  temperaments. 
These  might  add  materially  to  the  aesthetic  and  re 
ligious  development  of  American  civilization. 

But  wholly  aside  from  intermarriage,  would  the 
entrance  of  considerable  numbers  of  Japanese  into 
our  social  life  be  an  advantage?  Without  doubt,  if 
it  can  proceed  normally  and  morally.  If  in  the 
process  of  assimilation  the  Japanese  could  hold  fast 
to  their  courteous  and  gentle  manners,  to  their  cul 
ture  even  without  wealth,  and  could  impart  these^ 
social  traits  to  us,  we  should  be  great  gainers  thereby. 
But  for  this  Japanese  women  should  come  to  Amer 
ica;  permanence  and  happiness  of  residence  should 
be  assured  them;  homes  should  be  established  and 
families  should  be  raised,  and  at  the  same  time,  in 
proportion  as  they  and  their  children  acquire  the  En 
glish  language  they  should  be  admitted  into  the  social 


CAN  AMERICANS  ASSIMILATE  JAPANESE?     179 

life  of  our  people.  Only  so  could  they  develop  and 
we  learn  from  them  the  good  social  heritage  which 
they  have  to  impart. 

All  progress  depends  on  the  arrival  and  utilization 
of  useful  variants;  this  is  equally  true  in  biological 
and  in  social  evolution.  The  cross-breeding  of  races 
and  also  the  cross-mixing  of  civilizations  serve  pow 
erfully  to  produce  all  kinds  of  variants,  not  only  in 
the  physiological  character  of  individuals  but  in  cus 
toms  and  costumes;  in  music,  drama,  and  art;  in 
folk-lore,  religion,  and  philosophy;  in  all  that  gives 
richness  and  meaning  to  life. 

One  of  the  outstanding  distinctions  between  the 
biological  and  social  realms  is  the  fact  that  acquired 
biological  characters  are  practically  not  inheritable, 
while  acquired  social  characters  are.  This  means 
that  the  experience  of  the  individual  and  all  his 
bodily  development  secured  through  conscious  effort 
die  with  him.  Not  so  in  the  realm  of  social  life. 
Every  useful  social  attainment  of  every  individual 
may  be  taken  up  by  his  social  group  and  in  time 
become  the  possession  of  the  entire  human  race. 
And  this  may  be  so  even  though  the  individual  him 
self  may  die  without  a  single  child  to  perpetuate  his 
biological  heredity.  This  is  a  point  of  the  highest 
significance.  Biological  heredity  passes  only  from 
progenitor  to  offspring.  Social  heredity  may  pass 
from  any  individual  of  any  race  to  any  individual  of 
any  other  race;  and  it  does  so  speedily  and  easily 


180    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

under  favorable  mental  and  moral  conditions.  How 
speedily  have  powder  and  gun  transformed  the  fight 
ing  of  all  nations!  Biological  heredity  works  auto 
matically;  as  yet  we  know  not  how,  and  is  practi 
cally  beyond  human  control  except  through  the 
extermination  of  all  those  individuals  who  possess 
an  undesired  trait.  Social  heredity  works  through 
conscious  and  unconscious  imitation,  and  is  rapidly 
becoming  subject  to  human  control  entirely  through 
conscious  promotion  of  the  good  and  inhibition  of 
the  bad. 

Now,  when  we  consider  that  all  movements  of 
social  evolution,  scientific,  artistic,  moral,  and  relig 
ious,  always  take  their  start  in  individual  initiative, 
and  then  have  spread  not  only  through  the  tribe  and 
nation  but  often  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  in  accor 
dance  with  the  laws  of  social  heredity,  the  inestimable 
importance  of  variant  individuals,  endowed  by  ex 
ceptional  ancestry  with  exceptional  temperaments, 
becomes  manifest.  If  the  crossing  of  American  and 
Japanese  races  and  civilizations  is  likely,  as  it  un 
questionably  is,  to  produce  such  variants,  the  ad 
vantages  will  be  many  and  great. 

America  is  rightly  called  the  "melting  pot  of  they 
nations."  Here  the  races  and  the  civilizations  of 
Europe  are  being  crossed,  and  we  may  expect  the 
advent  of  astonishing  variants  of  all  kinds.  We 
must  learn  to  eliminate  the  unfit  and  to  preserve 
and  utilize  the  fit.  But  would  we  not  be  great 


CAN  AMERICANS  ASSIMILATE  JAPANESE?     181 

gainers  by  including  Asiatic  ore  in  this  great  melting- 
pot? 

But  this  question  as  to  what  advantages  we  should 
gain  by  taking  Japanese  completely  into  our  national 
life,  as  we  do  individuals  from  any  European  nation, 
is  not  a  question  to  be  settled  exclusively  by  bal 
ancing  the  pros  and  cons  of  selfish  advantage.  We 
need  to  ask  ourselves  how  justice  and  good- will 
require  us  to  treat  the  Japanese.  Whether  we  get  any 
good  from  them  or  not  is  not  the  primary  question. 
Japanese  are  members  of  the  human  race,  are  here 
in  America,  and  are  here  to  stay;  and  it  is  our  duty 
now  to  deal  with  them  justly  and  kindly.  Unless  we 
do  what  justice  and  good- will  demand,  we  ourselves 
sink  in  the  moral  scale.  Here  is  a  moral  opportu 
nity  set  before  us,  a  temptation,  if  you  will.  Rightly 
used,  we  rise;  if  we  fail  to  do  the  right  we  fall  in 
moral  character.  The  new  way  in  which  the  races 
are  being  brought  face  to  face  to-day  constitutes 
this  a  great  day  for  the  testing  of  the  nations  and 
also  a  day  of  great  moral  opportunity. 

The  injury  that  might  come  to  the  present  and 
future  generations  from  such  mingling  of  the  races 
as  already  exists  and  is  bound  to  continue  is,  indeed, 
to  be  carefully  considered.  We  must  find  the  right 
way  of  dealing  justly  and  kindly  with  every  race, 
and  at  the  same  time  we  must  avoid  the  dangers 
threatened  by  the  inevitable  commingling.  No 
doubt,  the  problem  is  complicated  and  difficult,  but 


182    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

that  does  not  excuse  injustice  and  unkindness.  De 
tails  of  a  possible  policy  will  be  presented  in  a  later 
chapter.  Here  I  merely  insist  on  certain  broad 
principles.  Righteousness,  justice,  and  good-will  in1 
racial  and  international  relations  are  the  only  possi 
ble  grounds  on  which  the  human  race  can  go  forward. 

Can  Americans  assimilate  the  Japanese?  That  is 
the  question.  I  am  no  prophet,  but  I  believe  we 
can.  Each  American  citizen  by  his  conduct,  speech, 
and  spirit  contributes  his  part,  greater  or  less,  to  the 
answer.  In  proportion  as  we  do  our  part,  treating 
all  aliens  courteously,  justly,  and  kindly,  giving  them 
fair  play  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  welcoming  them 
to  our  best  treasures  just  so  far  as  they  show  them 
selves  ready,  shall  we  succeed.  Under  such  con 
ditions,  steadily  maintained  year  in  and  year  out, 
there  is  not  a  particle  of  doubt  as  to  the  result. 

Of  course,  the  smaller  the  number  of  Japanese  and 
the  more  complete  their  distribution  the  more  rapid 
would  be  their  assimilation.  As  they  become  assim 
ilated  they,  in  turn,  would  aid  in  the  assimilation  of 
their  fellow  countrymen,  and  the  numbers  of  those 
who  could  wisely  come  to  these  shores  would  gradu 
ally  increase.  The  news  of  this  just  and  kindly 
treatment  reported  to  Japan  would  allay  the  natural 
race  prejudice  beyond  the  sea.  The  return  to  Japan 
for  visits  of  those  already  more  or  less  assimilated 
would  lead  to  still  further  changes  in  race  feeling. 
Such  a  policy  of  complete  justice  and  good- will  on 


CAN  AMERICANS  ASSIMILATE  JAPANESE?     183 

the  part  of  every  American  who  comes  in  contact 
with  an  Asiatic,  even  though  the  Asiatic  as  an  indi 
vidual  might  not  at  first  deserve  it,  continued  for 
half  a  century  would  completely  assimilate  all 
Asiatics  on  our  coast  and  would  conciliate  the  entire 
Japanese  and  Chinese  peoples.  Such  treatment 
would  make  our  Asiatic  citizens  as  loyal  Americans 
as  any  in  our  land. 

But  we  must  not  be  in  too  much  of  a  hurry.  We 
must  allow  time  for  the  process.  We  are  too  apt  to 
demand  the  result  without  the  process,  the  full-grown 
tree  without  the  years  for  its  growth.  Racial  assim 
ilation  takes  time,  a  generation  or  two.  It  is  a  cir 
cular  or  rather  a  spiral  process.  Each  kind  deed 
brings  those  involved  gradually  closer  and  closer  to 
gether.  As  race  prejudice  tends  to  produce  condi 
tions  in  which  it  thrives  more  and  more  luxuriously, 
so  race  justice  and  good- will  have  the  same  self- 
nourishing  tendency.  Among  our  good  people  there 
is  unquestionably  a  large  amount  of  genuine  good 
will  toward  alien  peoples,  including  Asiatics.  It 
should  become  outspoken  and  active;  it  should  deter 
mine  in  a  positive  way  our  local  and  national  policy 
concerning  Asiatics. 


CHAPTER  X 
CALIFORNIA'S  ANTI-JAPANESE  AGITATION 

THE  writer  heartily  agrees  with  the  fundamental 
postulate  of  California's  general  oriental  policy.  An 
immigration  from  Asia  swamping  the  white  man, 
overturning  the  democratic  institutions  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  bringing  wide  economic  disaster  to  Cau 
casian  laborers  and  farmers  is  not  for  a  moment  to 
be  tolerated.  The  writer  advocates  nothing  of  the 
kind.  Nor  does  Japan  ask  for  rights  of  unlimited 
immigration.  Her  statesmen  see  very  well  that 
large  influx  of  Japanese  and  Chinese  laborers  into 
the  United  States  would  soon  produce  intolerable 
conditions  and  inevitably  lead  to  serious  race  conflict. 
All  are  agreed  in  regard  to  this  point.  I  have  talked 
with  many  Japanese  gentlemen  on  this  matter  and 
not  one  have  I  found  who  dissents. 

The  present  chapter,  therefore,  is  not  concerned 
with  this  fundamental  postulate  but  rather  with 
what  may  be  regarded  as  the  secondary  aspects  of 
the  policy — the  spirit  and  the  method  with  which 
many  Californians  have  urged  it.  These  latter  seem 
to  the  writer  psychologically  and  strategically  mis 
taken. 

184 


CALIFORNIA'S  ANTI-JAPANESE  AGITATION    185 

For  sixty  years  the  treaties  between  Japan  and  the 
United  States  have  emphasized  the  friendship  of  the 
two  peoples.  Not  the  Japanese  Government  alone 
but  the  people  also  have  taken  these  assurances  seri 
ously  and  have  acted,  for  decades,  in  harmony  with 
them.  Hundreds  of  Japanese  attending  our  colleges 
and  universities  have  received  ideal  treatment  from 
our  people  and  on  going  back  to  their  land  have 
reported  their  experiences  to  their  astonished  kin 
dred  and  acquaintances  and  to  public  audiences. 
These  reports  have  contributed  to  that  amazing 
change  of  the  Japanese  national  attitude  to  the 
white  man  which  has  been  characteristic  of  Japan 
during  the  past  forty  years. 

Japan  on  her  side  nas  effected  changes  in  her 
national  life,  laws,  and  political  organization,  un 
heard  of  till  modern  times,  granting  protection  and 
large  opportunity  to  foreigners  in  her  midst. 

Responding  to  the  solicitation  of  planters  in  the 
nineties,  many  thousand  Japanese  laborers  went  to 
the  Hawaiian  Islands  for  work  on  the  sugar  planta 
tions,  and  thus  began  Japan's  first  experience  of  emi 
gration.  To  facilitate  this  enterprise  there  sprang 
up  and  flourished  in  Japan  a  number  of  emigration 
societies.  Not  until  the  annexation  of  Hawaii,  in 
1899,  however,  did  any  considerable  emigration 
arise  of  Japanese  laborers  to  California.  At  first 
they  were  generally  welcomed,  but  as  soon  as  they 
came  in  numbers  large  enough  to  form  local  groups 


186    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

and  to  assert  race  distinction  then  difficulties 
began  to  arise.  The  first  conspicuous  instance 
of  anti-Japanese  feeling  was  the  so-called  school 
question  when  the  School  Board  of  San  Francisco 
adopted  the  principle  of  race  segregation.  This  the 
Japanese  resented  as  contrary  to  the  treaty,  invidi 
ous,  and  humiliating.  Shortly  thereafter  came  the 
"  gentlemen's  agreement,"  which  from  1908  put  a 
complete  stop  to  Japanese  labor  immigration,  the 
Japanese  Government  preferring  the  prevention  of 
immigration  undesired  by  us  to  the  enactment  of 
legislation  humiliating  to  her.  In  carrying  out  this 
arrangement  the  emigration  companies  were  abol 
ished,  causing  much  hardship. 

Japan  has  earnestly  desired  to  maintain  relations 
with  America  on  the  basis  of  the  historic  friendship. 
The  entire  history  of  America's  helpfulness  to  Japan, 
from  the  days  of  Commodore  Perry  and  Minister 
Harris  to  the  time  of  the  war  with  Russia  and  the 
Portsmouth  Treaty  of  Peace,  justified  Japan's  admi 
ration.  Rather  than  sacrifice  America's  friendship, 
she  was  willing  to  do  almost  anything.  She  volun 
tarily  undertook  to  keep  back  from  our  shores  all 
undesired  immigration.  And  when  the  treaty  of 
unlimited  arbitration  was  negotiated  between  the 
United  States  and  England,  in  1911,  which  seemed 
to  conflict  with  England's  obligations  to  Japan  on 
account  of  the  Treaty  of  1905,  Japan,  expressing  her 
friendship  for  and  confidence  in  both  countries,  vol- 


CALIFORNIA'S  ANTI-JAPANESE  AGITATION     187 

untarily  made  the  change  in  the  clause  of  the  Alliance 
Treaty  which  would;  under  certain  conditions,  have 
required  England  to  fight  with  her  against  the 
United  States. 

In  spite  of  this  mutually  loyal  friendship  and  gen-v- 
erous  treatment,  California  has  developed  an  anti- 
Japanese  agitation  humiliating  to  Japan  and  dis 
graceful  to  America.  Ignoring  the  facts  that  Japan 
earnestly  desires  to  be  on  terms  of  cordial  friendship 
with  America  and  is  efficiently  administering  the 
"gentlemen's  agreement,"  California  assumes  that 
there  is  imminent  danger  of  swamping  immigration 
and  of  vast  purchases  of  her  best  agricultural  lands 
by  these  "undesirable"  aliens.  Her  whole  anti-Jap 
anese  argument  and  activity  rest  on  this  assumption 
as  its  major  premise. 

While  manual  workers,  small  traders,  and  farmers 
may  be  excused  for  laboring  under  this  delusion,  it 
is  certainly  surprising  that  State  legislators,  univer 
sity  professors,  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  news 
paper  editors  should  be  so  completely  obsessed  by 
the  same  illusion.  These  are  the  men  whose  priv 
ilege  it  is  to  know  the  facts  and  to  guide  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  citizens.  The  rank  and  file  should  be 
assured  by  the  leaders  that  there  is  no  danger 
whatever  of  swamping  immigration;  that  Japan  in 
her  friendship  for  and  gratitude  to  the  United  States 
is  more  than  ready  to  co-operate  in  any  measures 
that  may  be  needed  to  free  America  from  economic 


188    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

or  other  difficulties  that  might  arise  from  Japanese 
immigration,  and  that  the  assertions  by  some  of  an 
imminent  Japanese  naval  attack  and  military  inva 
sion  of  California  are  preposterous  and  absurd.  In 
stead,  however,  of  guiding  public  opinion,  of  insisting 
on  justice  and  fair  dealing,  the  reverse  seems  to  have 
been  the  spirit  and  method  of  the  leaders  of  public 
opinion.  During  the  last  two  sessions  of  the  Cali 
fornia  legislature  fifty-one  anti-Japanese  bills  were 
proposed.  As  a  sample  of  their  character,  consider 
the  following: 

A  bill  to  raise  the  license  fee  for  fishermen  from 
the  standard  rate  for  all  races  of  $10  per  annum  to 
$100  for  Asiatics. 

A  bill  forbidding  Japanese  the  use  or  ownership  of 
power  engines. 

A  bill  forbidding  Japanese  to  employ  white  girls. 

Clauses  in  various  land  bills  requiring  Japanese 
who  own  land  to  sell  within  one  year;  practically 
providing  thus  for  confiscation  of  private  prop 
erty. 

The  clause  in  the  bill  which  did  pass  making  Jap 
anese  inheritance  of  land  illegal. 

That  this  policy  of  differential  economic  legisla 
tion  has  not  been  suddenly  arrived  at,  the  following 
sentence  from  Mr.  Chester  Rowell's  article  in  the 
California  Outlook  for  April  26,  1913,  will  prove: 
"  An ti- Japanese  legislation  of  one  sort  or  another 
has  been  proposed  in  every  California  legislature  for 


CALIFORNIA'S  ANTI-JAPANESE  AGITATION    189 

the  past  ten  years,  and  for  at  least  eight  years  there 
has  been  acute  biennial  agitation.  This  year  prob 
ably  more  excitement  has  been  stirred  up  in  the  whole 
world  than  ever  before,  though  the  actual  bills  pro 
posed  have  been  less  radical  than  in  previous  ses 
sions."  Had  it  not  been  for  the  vigorous  opposition 
of  Presidents  Roosevelt  and  Taft  several  bills  highly 
obnoxious  from  the  international  standpoint  would 
doubtless  have  been  enacted.  Even  President  Wil 
son,  with  his  strong  convictions  as  to  State's  rights, 
felt  impelled  to  do  all  he  could  to  prevent  the  legisla 
tion  of  last  April. 

The  real  purpose  of  this  anti-Japanese  agitation 
and  legislation  was  succinctly  expressed  by  Attor 
ney-General  Webb,  before  the  Commonwealth  Club 
of  San  Francisco,  August  9,  1913: 

"The  fundamental  basis  of  all  legislation  upon  this 
subject,  State  and  Federal,  has  been,  and  is,  race 
undesirability.  It  is  unimportant  and  foreign  to  the 
question  under  discussion  whether  a  particular  race 
is  inferior  or  superior.  The  simple  and  single  ques 
tion  is,  is  the  race  desirable.  .  .  .  It  [the  law]  seeks 
to  limit  their  presence  by  curtailing  their  privileges 
which  they  may  enjoy  here;  for  they  will  not  come  in 
large  numbers  and  long  abide  with  us  if  they  may  not 
acquire  land.  And  it  seeks  to  limit  the  numbers  who 
will  come  by  limiting  the  opportunities  for  their  activity 
here  when  they  arrive" 

In  other  words,  this  is  indirect  legislation  for  the 
control  of  immigration  and  looks  also  toward  the 


190    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

exclusion  of  those  Japanese  already  owning  real 
estate  in  California. 

And  Governor  Johnson,  in  his  notable  address  on 
the  occasion  of  the  organization  of  the  Progressive 
party  of  California  (December  6, 1913),  summarizing 
the  splendid  work  of  the  party  thus  far  in  California, 
referred  approvingly  to  the  anti- Asiatic  land  law  as 
having  "laid  for  all  time  the  ghost  that  had  fright 
ened  so  many  in  the  past." 

In  connection  with  the  anti-Japanese  agitation 
many  things  have  been  said  highly  insulting  to  the 
Japanese  and  intended  to  be  so.  But  the  Japanese 
should  not  take  these  utterances  too  much  to  heart, 
for  they  do  not  represent,  I  feel  confident,  the  thought 
of  the  real  majority,  even  of  Calif ornians. 

Months  of  study  of  this  question  in  California  have 
convinced  the  writer  that  the  popular  approval  of 
the  anti-Japanese  agitation  and  legislation  does  not 
concern  the  details  of  the  proposed  bills  nor  the  in 
sulting  language  used  by  a  few,  but  rests  entirely  on 
the  conviction  that  there  should  be  no  swamping  im 
migration  from  Japan.  Their  universal  and  unqual 
ified  approval  of  this  position,  which  is  fundamental, 
has  led  the  good  people  to  keep  silence  in  regard 
to  details  which  they  consider  are  but  incidental. 

The  objectionable  features,  however,  of  this  anti- 
Japanese  legislation  are  many  and  serious. 

It  is  needless;  for  under  the  effective  operation  of 
the  "gentlemen's  agreement"  Japanese  immigration 


CALIFORNIA'S  ANTI-JAPANESE  AGITATION    191 

has  ceased,  and  the  number  of  Japanese  in  America  is 
diminishing.  There  is,  therefore,  no  danger  whatever 
of  a  swamping  Japanese  invasion  nor  of  any  consid 
erable  purchase  by  Japanese  of  agricultural  or  other 
land.  The  number  of  acres  bought  by  Japanese 
during  the  two  years  preceding  the  passage  of  the  law 
was  less  than  two  thousand. 

It  is  misleading;  for  it  implies  an  issue  which  does 
not  in  fact  exist. 

The  policy  is  humiliating  to  Japan;  for  it  misrep 
resents  her  attitude  and  conduct,  treats  her  as  though 
she  could  not  be  trusted,  and  ignores  her  friendship, 
which,  however,  has  been  consistently  maintained 
for  sixty  years. 

It  disgraces  the  United  States  by  presenting  us  in  a 
wrong  attitude  to  a  friendly  nation  and  also  by  mak 
ing  it  appear  that  we  cannot  distinguish  between 
solid  facts  and  palpable  illusions.  We  seem  to  be 
ruled  by  hallucinations. 

This  agitation  is  positively  injurious;  for  it  antag 
onizes  Japanese  landowners  and  thus  interferes 
with  the  process  of  their  assimilation.  It  thus  tends 
to  keep  them  as  a  permanently  alien  element  in  the 
midst  of  our  people,  helping  to  create  the  very  diffi 
culty  it  fears. 

It  is  based  on  ignorance  of  the  Japanese.  It  exag 
gerates  their  defects  and  overlooks  their  virtues. 

The  whole  agitation  is  unscientific.  It  does  not 
seek  accurate  and  verified  facts;  being  highly  sus- 


192    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

picious,  it  accepts  as  true  every  maligning  story. 
Moreover,  it  defends  and  justifies  itself  by  discredited 
theories  of  race  psychology  and  sociology.  It  con 
fuses  biological  and  sociological  assimilation,  regard 
ing  the  two  as  inseparable. 

It  is  unjust  and  unkind.  The  spirit  which  prompted 
the  fifty-one  bills  in  the  last  two  sessions  of  the  leg 
islature  is  not  one  that  seeks  to  deal  justly  or  kindly 
with  the  stranger  in  our  land.  We  criticise  the 
Japanese  for  lack  of  the  spirit  of  fair  play  and  for 
failure  to  keep  an  open  door  for  us  in  Manchuria. 
Are  Americans  in  California  carrying  out  the  spirit 
of  fair  play  and  an  open  door? 

It  ignores  the  new  Orient  and  the  entire  modern 
situation  considered  in  later  chapters  of  this  book. 
The  world  has  irrevocably  entered  on  a  new  era  of 
human  development.  All  the  nations  of  the  Orient 
are  awakening  to  a  new  life  and  a  new  self-conscious 
ness;  they  are  increasingly  sensitive  to  their  plight, 
their  needs,  and  their  rights.  They  are  also  develop 
ing  military  power.  All  this  is  ignored.  It  is  willing 
to  create  international  difficulty  and  promote  increas 
ing  alienation  of  Asiatic  good- will.  It  pays  no  atten 
tion  to  the  Yellow  Peril  which  it  is  evoking.  As 
Mr.  Rowell  well  says,  "ninty-nine  per  cent  of  the 
whole  Japanese  question  is  National  and  Interna 
tional."  It  ignores  the  large  relations  and  seeks  to 
settle  the  problem  exclusively  from  the  standpoint 
of  local  interests. 


CALIFORNIA'S  ANTI-JAPANESE  AGITATION    193 

It  is  short-sighted.  Even  from  the  standpoint  of 
selfish  interests,  it  is  calculated  to  bring  disaster. 
Our  international  commerce  depends  in  no  small 
degree  on  the  good- will  of  the  purchasing  nations. 
The  Chinese  boycott  of  1905-6  shows  what  possibili 
ties  lie  in  that  direction.  Germany  and  England  are 
competing  in  the  Orient  for  commercial  supremacy. 
Should  wide-spread  and  strong  anti- American  feeling 
in  Japan  and  China  be  put  into  the  commercial  scales, 
who  can  foretell  the  results  to  our  commerce? 

Moreover,  this  anti-Japanese  agitation  little  notes 
how  important  for  the  promotion  of  a  higher  stand 
ard  of  living  and  of  wages  in  the  Orient  is  the  move 
ment  back  and  forth  of  considerable  populations  be 
longing  to  the  industrial  and  agricultural  classes.  In 
proportion  as  the  standard  of  living  advances  in 
Asia  will  the  coming  economic  and  industrial  com 
petition  of  those  lands  with  ours  be  lessened  in 
severity. 

Nor  does  this  agitation  recognize  the  benefits, 
direct  and  indirect,  that  would  come  to  our  land 
through  the  presence  here  of  Asiatics.  Those  who 
despise  and  dislike  them  cannot  apparently  see  these 
benefits.  Nevertheless,  there  are  such,  not  only  in 
the  manual  work  done  by  them,  but  also  in  the  realm 
of  culture,  of  religious  feeling,  and  of  art.  Of  these 
latter  benefits  little,  it  is  true,  has  yet  been  received; 
the  time  has  been  too  short,  and  our  attitude  to  them 
has  been  too  unfavorable.  We  have  lacked  the  teach- 


194    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

able  spirit.  Moreover,  those  who  have  come  to  us 
from  Asia  have  encountered  severe  economic  strug 
gles.  Should  Asiatics  assimilated  to  our  civilization 
acquire  financial  prosperity  comparable  with  that  of 
our  own  middle  classes,  it  is  altogether  probable  that 
they  would  make  valuable  contributions  to  our  life. 
In  all  these  respects  California's  anti-Japanese  agita 
tion  is  short-sighted. 

It  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  all  American  treaties 
with  Japan.  Japan  opened  her  doors  at  our  earnest 
request.  We  led  her  out  among  the  nations,  much 
against  her  will.  We  pledged  mutual  friendship. 
Japan  has  carried  out  her  side  of  the  compact  more 
faithfully  than  we  have  carried  out  ours.  She  allows 
Americans  to  become  citizens  of  Japan.  We  refuse 
to  naturalize  Japanese,  whatever  their  character  or 
qualifications.  Japan  allows  American  residents  in 
Japan,  though  alien,  whether  as  individuals  or  as 
regular  corporations,  to  own  land.  California  and 
several  other  States  refuse  this  privilege  to  Japanese 
in  this  country. 

The  agitation  is  hysterical.  Those  who  advocate 
it  invariably  talk  of  the  threatened  swamping  Asiatic 
invasion,  the  Japanization  of  our  entire  Pacific 
coast,  the  ease  and  even  the  likelihood  of  a  Japanese 
military  invasion,  and  the  horrors  of  intermarriage. 
These  are  all  the  creations  of  ignorance  and  fear. 
That  there  is  no  danger  whatever  of  war  with  Japan 
is  conclusively  shown  by  the  facts  presented  in  a  later 


CALIFORNIA'S  ANTI-JAPANESE  AGITATION    195 

chapter.  The  very  talk  of  it  is  absurd.  There  is,  in 
truth,  nothing  whatever  in  the  situation  in  Cali 
fornia  to  call  for  an ti- Japanese  legislation. 

It  is  well  to  ponder  the  following  statements  from 
the  eminently  sane  article  by  Mr.  Rowell:  "It  may 
be  asserted  unconditionally  that  the  menace  of  Japa 
nese  land  ownership  in  California  is  not  a  present 
fact,  but  is  a  fear  of  the  future.  .  .  .  The  intense  in 
terest  aroused  in  the  whole  proposal  is  based  upon 
this  imaginative  picture  of  what  some  day  might  hap 
pen,  rather  than  upon  any  present  facts  of  what  has 
happened.  .  .  .  Practically  all  the  berries,  most  of 
the  vegetables,  more  than  half  of  the  grapes,  and  one- 
third  of  the  citrous  and  deciduous  fruits  of  California 
are  produced  by  Japanese  labor.  If  there  is  any 
invasion,  this  is  where  it  is,  but  there  seems  to  be 
no  agitation  against  this  real  displacement  of  our 
own  race  from  an  important  industry.  ...  In  the 
case  of  land  holding  the  situation  is  exactly  the  re 
verse.  Here,  instead  of  dominating  anything,  the 
Japanese  are  practically  a  negligible  quantity.  .  .  . 
These  figures  ...  are  relatively  insignificant  in  a 
state  which  has  single  holdings  of  millions  of  acres. 
All  the  Japanese  farms  in  California  owned  or  leased, 
could  be  located  on  the  Miller  and  Lux  ranches  and 
be  lost  in  the  shuffle." 

To  one  looking  calmly  at  the  facts,  the  present 
anti-Japanese  agitation  of  Calif ornian  politicians  ap 
pears  like  a  case  of  hysteria. 


196    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

And  finally,  the  anti-Japanese  policy  is  unchris 
tian.  There  is  no  more  important  teaching  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  than  that  of  dealing  justly 
and  kindly  with  the  stranger  in  the  land.  The  pecu 
liar  new  insight  of  the  Apostolic  church  was  the  fact 
that  Gentiles  are  co-heirs  with  the  Jews  in  the  King 
dom  of  God;  who  is  the  Father  of  all  men,  and  that 
all  men  of  all  races  are  brothers. 

A  policy  open  to  so  many  and  such  serious  criti 
cisms  surely  cannot  be  the  only  one.  Calif ornians 
seem  to  assume  that  there  are  only  two  alternatives 
— one,  this  policy  of  complete  exclusion,  hampering 
legislation,  and  social  ostracism;  the  other,  that  of 
complete  surrender  to  an  overwhelming  Japanese 
invasion,  resulting  in  the  economic  ruin  of  white 
laborers  and  the  establishment  on  the  Pacific  coast 
of  an  Asiatic  civilization. 

There  is,  however,  a  third  alternative,  a  policy 
calculated  to  conserve  all  real  interests,  on  the  side 
both  of  America  and  of  Japan,  dignified,  courteous, 
honorable,  and  mutually  advantageous.  The  details 
of  this  third  alternative  are  presented  in  the  closing 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  XI 
UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS 

THE  new  world-situation  has,  indeed,  been  a  cen 
tury  in  gestation,  but  now  it  is  fully  born  and  all 
the  nations  must  reckon  with  it,  America  no  less  than 
the  rest;  for  international  policies  which  sufficed  dur 
ing  the  nineteenth  century  are  no  longer  adequate. 

Japan  was  the  first  nation  to  be  rudely  shaken 
out  of  her  self-contented  isolation,  to  find  that  the 
world  had  forged  ahead  while  she  was  hibernating. 
But  with  titanic  efforts  and  internal  adjustments, 
involving  loss  and  pain  to  millions,  she  has  measur 
ably  discovered  the  modern  world  and  adapted  her 
self  to  it.  Nor  is  she  content  with  what  she  has 
already  achieved.  She  is  still  forging  ahead.  She 
is  still  eager  for  development  and  ready  to  make 
great  sacrifices,  if  thereby  she  may  take  her  place 
as  an  equal  among  the  nations.  She  believes,  with 
confidence,  that  her  peculiar  location,  where  the  two 
great  streams  of  Eastern  and  Western  civilization 
are  at  present  in  closest  contact,  gives  her  an  ad 
vantage  over  every  other  people  in  harmonizing  the 
good  of  each.  She  believes  she  is  to  make  a  distinct 

contribution  to  the  life  of  the  world. 

•••'   197 


198    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

There  is,  thus,  to-day  a  new  Japan,  just  coming 
into  being.  The  Japan  of  ten  or  twenty  years  ago 
was  a  youth  in  his  teens.  It  was  guided  by  a  small 
group  of  powerful  men,  educated  and  disciplined  in 
the  sixties  and  seventies  of  the  last  century.  They 
destroyed  the  feudalism  of  which  they  themselves 
were  products.  That  group  of  "Elder  Statesmen," 
of  whom  Prince  Ito  was  the  most  illustrious,  has 
passed.  The  nation's  destinies  are  now  in  younger 
hands,  men  who  have  received  their  training  since 
feudal  Japan  disappeared. 

During  the  life  of  the  late  Emperor,  Meiji  Tenno, 
Japan,  though  ostensibly  constitutional  in  form  and 
cosmopolitan  in  ambition,  was  nevertheless  still 
largely  feudal  in  spirit,  bureaucratic  in  political  life, 
and  narrowly  national  in  outlook  and  feelings.  The 
death  of  the  late  Emperor  may  be  reckoned  as  the 
beginning  of  a  new  era.  New  men  are  coming  to 
the  fore,  men  of  world  outlook  and  sympathy. 
Constitutional  government  is  rapidly  gaining  head 
way.  Provincial  nationalism,  though  still  strong,  is 
giving  way  to  cosmopolitanism.  Men  prominent 
in  commerce,  industry,  and  finance  are  taking  in 
creasingly  influential  position  in  the  national  life, 
even  moulding  governmental  policies.  They  are 
opposed  to  bureaucracy  and  also  to  militarism. 
More  and  more  Japan  is  swinging  out  into  the  full 
current  of  universal  civilization. 

This  means  that  we  have  a  new  Japan  to  deal 


UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS  199 

with.  She  is  more  self-conscious  than  was  Japan  of 
the  Meiji  era  (1868-1912).  She  is  more  under  the 
control  of  popular  opinion  and  less  dominated  by 
her  official  political  leaders.  Her  educated  people 
are  thinking  and  feeling  on  international  problems 
as  never  before.  Japan  has  taken  lessons  from 
Western  lands.  She  has  observed  how  they  push 
national  rights,  dignity,  and  economic  interests  in 
alien  lands  and  sees  no  reason  why  she  should  not 
put  into  practice  the  lessons  she  has  learned. 

The  government  of  Japan  is,  accordingly,  becom 
ing  a  more  difficult  undertaking.  An  autocratic  cab 
inet  is  increasingly  liable  to  overthrow  by  popu 
lar  wrath,  and  this  is  especially  liable  if  the  people 
believe  the  cabinet  has  played  false  to  national  inter 
ests  or  honor  in  foreign  lands. 

The  historic  friendship  of  Japan  and  America  was 
maintained  without  a  break  and  with  mutual  ad 
vantage  till  after  the  close  of  the  Russo-Japan  War. 
Since  then  several  untoward  events  have  occurred 
to  check  the  friendship:  President  Roosevelt  an 
nounced  that  "  America  must  dominate  the  Pacific"; 
Secretary  Knox  proposed  to  neutralize  the  Man- 
churian  railways  by  four  European  powers  without 
consulting  the  wishes  of  Japan  and  Russia;  Americans 
supported  a  railway  scheme  in  Manchuria  which 
would  greatly  reduce  the  value  of  the  Russo-Japa 
nese  line;  newspapers  agitated  against  the  alleged 
Japanese  rebate  in  Manchuria;  American  financiers 


200    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

played  a  prominent  part  in  the  proposed  "four- 
powers  loan"  to  China,  which  excluded  Russia  and 
Japan;  America  independently  recognized  the  Chi 
nese  republic,  in  spite  of  an  agreement  among  lead 
ing  powers  to  act  together  in  this  matter;  California, 
after  repeated  mutterings,  passed  an  antialien  land 
law  which  seriously  hampers  the  prospects  of  Jap 
anese  residing  in  America  and  the  government  at 
Washington  upholds  the  law.1  And  finally  many 
newspapers  and  politicians  have  for  years  indulged 
in  the  most  extraordinary  misrepresentations  of 
Japan  and  in  reckless  assertions  in  regard  to  her 
doings  and  purposes  calculated  to  evoke  wide-spread 
suspicion  of  Japan  and  readiness  to  believe  any  evil 
report.  All  these  things  have  been  done  in  spite  of 
Japan's  desire  for  friendship  with  America.  Is  it 
strange  that  Japan  is  hurt  and  estranged? 

But  if  there  is  a  new  Japan,  so  assuredly  there  is  a 
new  Orient.  There  are  China  and  India,  Persia 
and  Turkey,  each  with  its  twentieth-century  develop 
ments. 

During  the  past  decade  these  countries  have  at 
last  shaken  off  their  lethargic  slumber  of  centuries. 
So  rapidly  are  the  inner  movements  of  thought  and 
feeling  and  resolve  proceeding  in  these  lands  that  no 
one  can  be  sure  to-day  what  will  happen  to-morrow. 
Even  their  own  reputed  leaders  cannot  foretell  what 

1  See  "American  and  Japanese  Diplomacy  in  China,"  by  M. 
Honda  in  Journal  of  Race  Development,  October,  1913. 


UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS  201 

a  week  or  a  month  may  bring  to  pass.  All  South 
China  abolished  the  queue  in  a  single  week.  Each 
of  these  Asiatic  countries  knows  that  the  old  order  is 
passing  and  the  new  coming,  and  they  are  eagerly 
waiting.  They  are  even  exerting  themselves  stren 
uously  for  the  establishment  of  the  new,  though 
it  cost  treasure  and  life  and  vast  internal  adjust 
ment. 

No  longer,  then,  are  we  dealing  with  sleeping  giants, 
on  whose  continued  sleep  we  may  confidently  count. 
They  have  been  aroused  by  occidental  stimulants 
in  the  shape  of  commerce,  military  and  naval  prod- 
dings,  and  Christian  missions.  Hundreds  of  millions 
of  severely  disciplined  peoples,  constituting  a  half  of 
the  earth's  population,  are  coming  to  national  and 
racial  self-consciousness.  They  are  beginning  to 
catch  the  vision  of  new  life;  to  see  the  world  and 
their  own  inferior  places  therein.  They  propose  to 
remain  in  their  present  plight  no  longer,  but  seizing 
the  tools  and  instruments  of  progress  put  into  their 
hands  by  Occidentals,  they  intend  to  work  out  their 
own  destinies.  They  refuse  to  remain  longer  as 
pliant  subject  races,  open  to  the  exploitations  of 
aggressive  whites.  They  intend  to  stand  on  their 
own  feet,  possess  their  own  lands,  develop  their  own 
natural  resources.  They  no  longer  despise  the  white 
man's  civilization,  nor  shrink  from  facing  him  on  his 
own  terms.  They  intend  to  master  his  science,  ac 
quire  his  machinery,  utilize  his  experience,  and  to 


202    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

stand  as  his  equal  in  every  branch  of  human  endeavor 
and  attainment. 

The  Asiatic,  moreover,  is  possessed  by  race  pride 
and  rising  ambition.  He  boasts  his  antiquity,  histor 
ical  continuity,  and  intrinsic  ability  in  brain,  brawn, 
and  grit.  The  present  apparent  inferiority  is,  he 
holds,  only  a  passing  episode  due  to  special  circum 
stances.  Nor  shall  it  long  continue.  Not  only  do 
Europe  and  America  know  but  all  Asia  knows  that 
the  time  for  white  exploitation  of  Japan  has  ceased. 
China  and  India  propose  that  it  shall  cease  in  their 
lands  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

Special  emphasis  should  be  laid  on  the  industrial 
and  commercial  development  which  this  means. 
Japanese  adoption  of  Western  civilization  has  intro 
duced  a  higher  standard  of  living  for  her  50,000,000. 
This  means  a  higher  wage  and  a  higher  purchasing 
power.  Though  Japanese  taxes  are  crushing,  the 
average  man  is  living  two  hundred  to  three  hundred 
per  cent  better  than  in  pre-Meiji  times;  her  oversea 
trade  is  growing  amazingly. 

The  awakening  of  China  and  her  wide  adoption  of 
Western  civilization  promise  like  developments — 
a  higher  standard  of  living  for  the  masses,  a  higher 
wage,  increasing  purchasing  power,  and  enlarging 
oversea  commerce. 

The  awakening  of  Asia  then  means  vast  develop 
ment  in  international  trade  and  corresponding  prof 
its  to  the  producing  and  purchasing  nations. 


UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS  203 

We  have,  then,  a  new  Orient  to  deal  with,  one  that 
is  increasingly  self-conscious  and  sensitive,  strong, 
and  determined.  We  confront,  to-day,  a  China 
absolutely  different  from  the  China  that  faced  us 
in  the  days  of  Dennis  Kearney.  The  new  Orient, 
in  fact  though  not  in  form,  is  under  the  leadership  of 
Japan;  for  she  has  taught  all  Asia  that  the  secret 
of  progress  and  of  independence  is  international  life, 
learning  what  the  Occident  has  to  teach  as  to  nature's 
secrets  and  forces  and  utilizing  them  for  human  wel 
fare. 

This  new  Orient  offers,  accordingly,  tremendous 
possibilities  for  good  or  evil.  Which  it  shall  be  de 
pends  in  no  small  way  on  America  and  her  oriental 
policy. 

There  is  also  a  new  America.  Whether  we  like 
it  or  not,  the  United  States  is  an  international  power; 
we  can  no  longer  live  to  ourselves.  Our  lives  and 
our  interests  are  now  interlinked  with  every  nation 
and  race  on  the  face  of  the  globe  to  a  degree  we  little 
appreciate.  Our  national  responsibilities  are  enor 
mous.  Our  experiments  of  democratic  government, 
popular  education,  private  initiative,  equality  of  the 
sexes,  and  our  amazing  immigration  have  shaken 
numberless  century-old  theories  throughout  the  world 
and  are  arousing  the  ambitions  of  the  common  people 
of  every  land. 

It  now  lies  within  the  power  of  the  United  States 
to  further  these  world-wide  upward  movements  of 


204    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

the  masses  by  friendly  helpfulness  and  good-will  or 
to  thwart  them  by  selfish  greed.  America's  oppor 
tunity  for  moulding  the  life  of  the  millions  in  Japan 
and  China  and  India  is  incalculable,  if  we  treat 
them  justly  and  courteously.  We  have  already  won 
their  admiration  and  friendship,  and  can  still  hold 
them,  even  in  Japan,  if  we  will. 

A  few  years  ago  inquiry  was  made  in  Japan  as  to 
the  effect  on  Japanese  students  of  their  life  in  the 
various  foreign  lands.  The  opinion  of  educators  was 
unanimous  that  those  who  studied  in  Europe  re 
turned  to  Japan  confirmed  in  their  patriotism  and 
highly  critical  of  other  lands,  while  those  who  had 
studied  in  America  were  highly  critical  of  Japan 
and  laudatory  of  America.  So  pronounced  was  this 
difference  that  narrow-minded  Japanese  dissuade 
students  from  going  to  America,  lest  they  lose  their 
Japanese  patriotism! 

A  son  of  one  of  my  best  Japanese  friends,  after 
completing  his  university  education  in  Tokyo  spent 
only  two  years  in  an  American  university.  On  re 
turning  to  Japan  to  take  an  important  post,  his  dis 
gust  and  criticism  of  Japanese  policies,  police,  busi 
ness,  and  social  life  were  so  pronounced  as  to  become 
a  cause  of  disappointment  to  his  friends  and  kindred. 
They  said  that  America  had  spoiled  him  for  Japan. 

Japanese  merchants  and  farmers,  too,  who  have 
spent  a  number  of  years  in  America  or  Hawaii,  find 
their  ideals  of  life  so  transformed  that  a  return  to 


UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS  205 

their  own  land  is  accompanied  with  no  little  pain; 
their  influence  is  strong  for  the  introduction  of  Amer 
ican  ideals  and  practices. 

These  are  a  few  concrete  illustrations,  but  they 
show  which  way  the  wind  blows.  Chinese  students 
no  doubt  return  from  America  with  like  feelings  and 
like  ideals,  and  in  proportion  as  they  are  patriotic  do 
they  seek  to  guide  their  own  land  to  the  adoption  of 
American  ideals  and  institutions. 

America  is,  thus,  a  new  America,  not  merely 
because  of  her  advances  during  the  past  two  decades 
in  every  line,  political,  economic,  industrial,  edu 
cational,  and  social;  nor  yet  because  of  her  unin 
tended  transoceanic  possessions  (Hawaii  and  the 
Philippines),  involving  new  international  relations; 
but  also,  and  supremely,  because  of  the  new  place 
she  is  occupying  in  the  mind  of  the  world,  particu 
larly  in  that  of  the  Orient.  These  countries  look  to 
us  for  models  and  for  inspiration,  enhancing  thus 
both  our  opportunities  and  our  responsibilities. 
Only  in  the  light  of  these  can  we  estimate  aright  the 
principles  that  should  guide  us  in  the  formulation  of 
our  oriental  policy. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  the  value  to  other  lands  of 
their  relations  to  this  through  the  coming  and  return 
ing  of  emigrants.  This  is  due  not  merely  to  the 
direct  economic  advantage,  first  by  the  relief  of 
pressure  on  the  populations  in  those  lands  and  then 
of  the  cash  sent  home  by  the  emigrants.  More  im- 


206    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

portant  than  these  are  the  subtle  influences  of  ideas 
and  ideals  demanding  transformation  in  the  entire 
life  of  those  lands. 

The  interchange  of  travellers  and  students,  of  sol 
diers,  diplomats,  merchants,  and  missionaries  be 
tween  this  and  other  lands  of  course  contribute 
greatly  to  these  vast  national  movements  in  the  life 
of  the  spirit;  but  the  point  needing  emphasis  here  is 
that  emigrants  who  come  from  the  lowly  classes  in 
each  nation  also  have  their  important  contribution  to 
make.  And  this  is  of  more  importance  than  at  first 
appears.  The  new  ideas  and  ideals  imported  by 
travellers,  merchants,  students,  and  the  like  influ 
ence  only  a  small,  though  of  course  important,  mi 
nority  of  the  nation;  while  those  which  emigrants 
carry  back  with  them  mould  the  working  masses,  who 
constitute  the  vast  majority.  These  masses  are  not 
easily  moved  by  abstractions  and  theories,  such  as 
may  be  propounded  in  books  and  taught  in  schools. 
They  are  moved  by  what  they  see  and  experience. 
The  laborers  of  every  land  are  highly  conservative. 
They  distrust  new-fangled  industrial  ideas  of  the 
upper  classes,  for  these  classes  are  not  "practical 
workers."  It  is,  therefore,  of  the  greatest  value  for 
representatives  of  the  working  classes  in  backward 
lands  to  reside  for  a  season  in  more  progressive  coun 
tries  that  they  may  see  with  their  own  eyes  and  learn 
by  personal  experience  the  new,  effective  methods 
of  industry  and  agriculture.  On  their  return,  not 


UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS  207 

only  can  they  tell  what  they  have  seen  and  learned, 
but,  of  still  more  importance,  they  can  demonstrate 
the  new  methods  by  putting  them  into  actual 
practice. 

But  the  advantage  of  the  migration  of  workers 
back  and  forth  does  not  belong  exclusively  to  the 
land  from  which  the  emigrant  comes.  There  are 
material  advantages  secured  by  the  land  to  which  he 
goes.  I  refer  now  not  to  the  value  of  the  labor  per 
formed  but,  first,  to  the  promotion  of  commerce  be 
tween  the  two  countries  and,  second,  to  the  rising 
standard  of  wages  and  of  living  demanded  by  labor 
ers  in  the  home  land.  Both  of  these,  though  slow 
in  coming  and  for  that  reason  easily  overlooked,  are 
of  great  importance. 

When  the  working  people  of  any  land  begin  to 
demand  the  goods  of  another  land,  commerce  thrives. 
But  of  more  final  significance  is  the  higher  wage  and 
better  scale  of  living  of  the  working  man  in  the  native 
land.  It  means  more  purchasing  power  among  the 
masses  and  also  more  manhood.  Since  Japanese 
immigration  to  the  United  States  became  appre 
ciable,  the  commerce  between  these  lands  has  risen 
from  $10,000,000  in  1886  to  $150,000,000  in  1912. 
Japan  purchased  from  us  in  1910,  $21,000,000  worth 
of  goods  and  in  1912,  $53,000,000  worth.  But  more 
significant  than  the  commerce  is  the  rising  scale  of 
living  and  of  wages  in  Japan,  for  this  means  less 
difference  between  the  working  masses  of  the  two 


208    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

countries  and,  in  consequence,  other  things  being 
equal,  in  the  long  run  less  ruinous  industrial  com 
petition. 

America  sets  the  pace  and  the  standards  to-day 
for  the  life  of  all  working  people  throughout  the 
world.  It  is  important  that  working  men  from  every 
people,  especially  those  from  the  industrial  classes, 
should  come  here  and  learn,  not  merely  our  methods, 
but  especially  our  scale  of  life,  the  relative  leisure 
of  our  working  classes,  our  general  education,  our 
solidarity,  our  spirit  of  fellowship  and  co-operation, 
and  then,  having  learned,  that  they  take  the  same  to 
their  workers.  In  proportion  as  this  occurs  will  the 
workers  of  the  entire  world  rise  in  economic  and 
social  welfare  and  the  anticipated  cutthroat  com 
petition  between  the  East  and  the  West  be  averted. 

Man's  finest  qualities  have  been  evoked  by  the 
demands  on  his  sympathy  and  unselfish  endeavor  on 
behalf  of  helpless  infancy  and  motherhood.  Those 
races  possess  the  most  advanced  manhood  and 
womanhood  where  nobility  and  courage  are  com 
bined  with  patience,  forbearance,  and  helpfulness, 
and  in  which  the  rights  of  the  helpless  are  protected 
by  the  strong. 

The  most  inspiring  and  noblest  heroes  of  every 
nation  have  been,  and  still  are,  those  who  have  given 
their  lives  in  unselfish  devotion  to  the  outcast  and 
helpless,  to  the  orphan  and  leper,  to  the  poor,  the 
ignorant,  the  downcast,  the  sick,  the  criminal.  The 


UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS  209 

deepening  spiritual  life  of  the  modern  world,  its  wide 
outlook  and  sympathy,  its  consciousness  of  the 
problems  confronting  modern  society  and  its  efforts 
to  meet  the  same — whence  have  they  come  but  from 
its  self-forgetting,  self-sacrificing  work?  The  retro 
active  effect  on  Christendom  of  its  foreign  phil 
anthropic  and  missionary  activities,  securing  ac 
curate  knowledge  of  every  non-Christian  tribe  and 
people,  arousing  sympathy  for  them,  leading  men 
slowly  to  a  realization  that  even  the  non-Christian 
religions  of  the  earth  have  their  elements  of  truth 
and  that  Christianity  does  not  go  to  any  land  to 
destroy  the  good  and  true,  but  rather  to  fulfil  and 
vitalize  their  highest  ideals — this  high  development 
of  character,  knowledge,  sympathy,  and  vision  is  a 
direct  product  of  the  application  of  the  spirit  and 
teaching  of  Jesus  that  the  strong  should  help  those 
that  are  weak  and  that  it  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive. 

While  this  has  been  true  in  the  relations  of  indi 
viduals  and  of  social  classes,  is  it  not  yet  to  be  true 
in  the  relations  of  nations?  May  not  whole  nations 
be  raised  to  nobler  levels  of  moral  life  through  self- 
sacrificing  endeavors  on  behalf  of  races  less  advanced? 
If,  in  place  of  prodigious  preparations  for  war,  there 
should  arise  unselfish  giving  between  the  nations,  we 
would  advance  to  degrees  of  mutual  appreciation 
and  progressive  civilization  of  which  our  most  en 
thusiastic  prophets  have  given  but  faint  forecast. 


210    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

If,  in  place  of  preparing  to  fight  Japan,  America 
should  send  her  gifts  of  scores  of  millions  to  help  her 
develop  her  resources  in  Hokkaido,  or  build  univer 
sities,  or  even  to  pay  off  part  of  her  enormous  and 
crippling  debt,  what  results  would  follow  in  kindly 
international  relations?  If,  instead  of  lending  China 
large  sums  on  heavy  interest,  the  five  powers  had 
given  her  the  sum  outright  for  the  development  of 
her  railways  and  schools  and  hospitals,  who  could 
picture  the  beneficial  result  in  race  good- will?  What 
unparalleled  opportunities  the  nations  might  have 
in  China  if  all  were  as  eager  to  help  her  as  they  have 
been  in  seeking  each  its  own  aggrandizement! 

Has  not  the  time  come  in  the  history  of  the  world 
when  these,  the  profoundest  principles  of  human  life 
making  for  character  and  progress,  should  be  adopted 
not  only  by  individuals  and  small  groups  but  by  an 
entire  people?  Is  not  this  one  of  the  unrecognized 
factors  of  modern  life? 

Few  realize  that  a  new  era  in  human  evolution  has 
begun.  For  unknown  millenniums  rivers,  moun 
tains,  seas,  and  oceans  have  compelled  rigid  isolation 
of  small  groups  of  men,  each  group  living  to  itself. 
Continuous  intermarriage  within  each  group  has 
produced  races,  tribes,  and  nations  physiologically 
different,  which  have  developed  their  distinctive 
languages,  literatures,  organizations,  industries,  arts, 
ethics,  metaphysics,  and  religion.  Biological  segre 
gation  has  produced  the  races,  social  segregation  the 


UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS  211 

civilizations.  Quite  unconsciously,  yet  none  the  less 
really,  each  group  has  been  carrying  on  prolonged 
experiments,  developing  and  progressively  testing 
each  its  own  conceptions  of  man  and  society,  of 
nature  and  the  supernatural,  and  of  the  meaning, 
purpose  and  value  of  life.  While  some  peoples  have 
survived  unknown  multitudes  have  missed  the  trail 
and  have  either  miserably  perished  or  now  maintain 
only  a  bare  existence.  The  successful  survivors 
carry  in  their  traditions  and  civilizations  the  fruitage 
of  age-long  efforts.  Divergent  evolution  with  rela 
tively  little  interchange  of  blood  or  thought  has  been 
the  characteristic  feature  of  past  millenniums  of 
human  history. 

During  the  past  three  thousand  years,  however, 
some  limited  interchange  of  thought  and  experience 
has  taken  place  between  the  several  peoples  of  Asia, 
while  corresponding  and  much  fuller  interchange  has 
been  effected  between  the  nations  of  Europe.  Two 
great  streams  of  civilization  have  thus  arisen,  the 
Oriental  and  the  Occidental,  and  to-day  they  carry 
on  their  bosoms  the  more  advanced  races  of  mankind. 
In  the  main,  these  streams  have  been  flowing  in 
divergent  directions. 

Two  millenniums  ago,  for  several  scores  of  years, 
these  streams  were  in  partial  contact.  The  inter 
change  of  thought  and  custom  proved  highly  stimu 
lating  to  both  sides,  but  particularly  to  Europe, 
movements  of  the  greatest  significance  arising  whose 


212    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

force  is  not  yet  spent.  But  political  catastrophes 
and  the  partial  collapse  of  civilization  forced  these 
streams  apart,  and  for  the  last  thousand  years  the 
general  divergent  evolution  of  East  and  West  has 
gone  on  apace. 

Geographical  barriers,  however,  have  now  broken 
down.  Man's  mastery  of  the  forces  of  nature  is 
destroying  the  limitations  imposed  by  space.  Steam 
travel  and  electric  communication  have  made  the 
whole  world  a  manageable  unit.  Vast  oceans  and 
lofty  ranges  no  longer  isolate  the  various  branches  of 
mankind.  The  barriers  to-day  are  the  languages, 
with  race  and  class  prejudice.  But  strange  lan 
guages  are  being  mastered;  mutual  acquaintance  is 
banishing  prejudice.  Men  are  beginning  to  learn  of 
one  another  the  good  each  branch  has  acquired 
through  its  protracted  divergent  evolution.  This 
means,  however,  that  diverse  races  and  civilizations 
are  face  to  face;  the  two  great  streams  are  again  in 
contact  and  bid  fair  to  blend.  We  have  entered  on 
a  new  era  of  human  history,  the  era  of  convergent 
evolution.  The  best  of  each  is  to  become  the  pos 
session  of  all,  producing  a  universal  civilization  of 
incomparable  richness. 

All  past  civilizations  have  been  provincial,  narrow- 
minded,  puffed  up  with  race  pride,  scornful,  able  to 
see  but  little  good  outside  themselves.  Their  local 
character  and  provincial  spirit,  however,  were  in 
evitable  consequences  of  isolation.  They  were,  nev- 


UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS  213 

ertheless,  necessary  steps  in  human  history,  as  inev 
itable  as  the  crudity  of  a  boy  in  his  teens. 

But  a  new  civilization  is  coming  with  the  "New 
Humanity  "  and  the  "  New  International  Mind."  It 
is  to  be  truly  cosmopolitan  and  correspondingly  rich, 
for  it  will  include  and  preserve  all  that  is  good  and 
true  and  beautiful  in  each  of  the  local  civilizations. 
Asiatics  are  now  awaking  to  this  mighty  modern 
movement.  Not  China  alone,  but  India,  Persia,  and 
Turkey — all  Asia,  indeed — has  learned  from  Japan 
the  magic  word  of  progress  and  power  through  inter 
national  life.  The  Renaissance  of  Europe  was  not 
more  significant  for  Europe  than  are  the  mighty 
changes  now  beginning  in  the  East,  near  and  far. 
A  new  leaven  has  entered  into  old  civilizations,  and 
who  can  foretell  the  issue?  The  reconstruction  not 
of  Asia  alone,  but  of  the  whole  world,  lies  pregnant 
in  this  new  era. 

But  this  new  contact  of  East  and  West,  while 
pregnant  with  great  opportunity,  is  also  fraught  with 
great  peril.  Extraordinary  foresight  and  statesman 
ship  are  called  for.  The  condition  under  which  alone 
the  East  and  the  West  can  be  mutually  helpful  is 
the  maintenance  of  international  peace  based  upon 
justice  and  good-will.  Race  pride  must  give  place 
to  humility  of  spirit  and  willingness  to  learn.  In 
stead  of  determining  international  relations  by  bay 
onets  and  battle-ships,  justice,  righteousness  and 
the  spirit  of  mutual  concession  must  prevail.  No 


214    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

race  may  proudly  claim  supremacy  and  special  priv 
ilege,  nor  seek  to  enforce  that  claim  by  the  sword. 
All  must  learn  that  the  savage  age  of  the  beast  has 
passed,  that  the  Kingdom  of  Man  has  come,  and  that 
true  supremacy  is  intellectual  and  moral  and  spir 
itual. 

Man's  inner  nature  is  essentially  universal,  in 
finite;  he  cannot  be  permanently  satisfied  with  any 
thing  less  than  the  best.  He  demands  a  science 
that  builds  on  universal  human  experience,  and  ethics 
that  includes  all  human  relations  and  embodies  uni 
versal  ideals,  and  a  religion  that  interprets  all  things 
and  all  experience  and  gives  significance  and  worth 
to  all. 

This  means,  however,  that  only  a  completely  hu 
manized  civilization  can  satisfy.  It  must  include  all 
peoples,  all  experience,  all  high  endeavor.  And  for 
this  the  progressive  gift  of  each  to  all  and  all  to  each 
is  essential.  Exactly  this  is  to  be  the  great  outstand 
ing  feature  of  our  modern  international  life.  No 
doubt,  there  are  cross-currents  and  counter-currents 
innumerable,  but  the  main,  deep,  underlying  cur 
rent  of  all  is  to  be  the  convergent  evolution  of  the 
entire  human  race. 

Now  the  anti-Asiatic  movement  in  California  and 
British  America,  like  the  late  antiforeign  Boxer 
movement  in  China  and  the  Joi  (barbarian-expelling) 
movement  in  Japan  two  score  and  ten  years  ago, 
are  all  counter-currents.  They  ignore  the  essential 


UNRECOGNIZED  FACTORS  215 

trend  of  the  times.  The  sooner  they  are  overcome 
the  better  for  all,  but  especially  for  the  active  par 
ticipants. 

As  Paul  put  it  so  long  ago,  we  are  members  one  of 
another.  Each  race  needs  the  rest  for  its  own  com 
plete  development  and  richest  life.  The  East  needs 
the  West,  but  so  does  the  West  need  the  East.  This 
profound  principle  of  human  welfare  demands  uni 
versal  recognition.  In  its  light  alone  can  we  form 
an  oriental  policy  suited  to  the  extraordinary  age  in 
which  we  live. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE 

SOME  twenty  years  ago  Emperor  William  of  Ger 
many  announced  to  the  world  the  existence  of  a 
danger  to  Christendom  which  till  then  had  not  been 
suspected — the  Yellow  Peril. 

That  seed  was  sown  in  fertile  soil.  It  has  grown 
into  a  mighty  tree  whose  branches  reach  out  into 
every  land  where  white  men  rule.  The  thoughts 
and  policies  of  the  white  nations  are  being  increas 
ingly  controlled  by  the  fear  of  the  yellow  man. 

Some  four  hundred  years  ago  Columbus  dis 
covered  America.  Then  came  the  age  of  world- 
discovery,  and  with  it  the  age  of  white  expansion  and 
world- wide  conquest.  All  the  colored  races  felt  his 
heavy  hand  and  fell  back  before  his  conquering 
might. 

While  for  twenty  years  the  white  man  has  begun 
to  anticipate  a  possible  Yellow  Peril,  for  four  hun 
dred  years  the  colored  races  have  faced  an  actual 
White  Peril. 

The  Yellow  Peril  takes  two  forms,  military  and 
economic.  The  former  is  pictured  in  lurid  colors 
and  is  conceived  of  as  not  far  distant,  though  none 

216 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      217 

are  so  bold  as  Captain  Hobson  was  in  predicting  the 
date  of  war  between  Japan  and  the  United  States 
(a  date  now  overdue  by  a  couple  of  years). 

The  Honorable  Albert  Johnson,  of  Washington,  in 
his  speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives  (August 
30,  1913),  conceives  of  the  military  Yellow  Peril  in 
the  following  terms: 

"The  over-shadowing  question  of  to-day  is:  What 
are  we  going  to  do  when  the  900,000,000  of  Asia, 
united  and  armed  in  the  same  proportion  as  Japan, 
demand  unrestricted  admission  for  those  of  their 
laborers  who  wish  to  profit  by  the  opportunities  of 
the  land  of  high  wages? 

"The  Manchus  dared  not  develop  the  great  army 
planned  by  Sir  Robert  Hart,  knowing  that  an  army 
consisting  mainly  of  Chinese  would  inevitably  turn 
against  the  Manchu  government.  No  such  motive 
restrains  the  present  government,  which  is  com 
pletely  in  the  hands  of  the  Chinese  themselves.  The 
very  conflict  that  is  now  going  on  must  hasten  the 
development  of  the  army  and  afford  it  that  training 
in  actual  warfare  which  is  better  than  all  maneuvers. 
They  need  not  be  in  a  hurry  to  raise  Sir  Robert 
Hart's  army  of  4,000,000;  half  a  million  will  suffice 
to  make  the  continuance  of  British  rule  in  India 
impossible.  And  when  India  escapes  from  British 
control  the  supremacy  of  the  white  race  is  at  an 
end,  the  supremacy  of  Asia  assured.  Even  if  south 
ern  China  cuts  loose  from  the  north,  that  will  not 
alter  the  result;  south  China,  north  China,  Japan 
and  India  will  be  a  unit  on  the  question  of  emigration. 

"You  say  China  is  too  poor  to  fight.  You  forget 
that  the  wars  of  the  first  French  Republic  were 


218    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

fought  entirely  on  paper  money.  All  authorities 
bear  witness  to  the  integrity  and  administrative 
capacity  of  Chinese  business  men.  If  such  is  the 
case,  do  you  not  see  that  China  may  at  any  moment 
find  her  Napoleon,  as  France  did,  and  as  China  her 
self  did  a  dozen  times  during  the  past  three  thousand 
years?  When  he  begins  to  turn  the  rascals  out  and 
looks  around  for  honest  and  able  men  to  take  their 
places,  will  not  the  business  world  offer  him  an  ample 
choice?  And  if  he  thus  transforms  China  into  an 
obedient,  efficient  machine,  do  you  think  he  will  be 
content  any  more  than  his  French  prototype  or  his 
Chinese  predecessors  were?  British  dominion  in 
India  hangs  by  a  thread.  A  Chinese  Napoleon 
could  put  an  end  to  it  with  a  word,  and  thus  add  the 
315,000,000  of  India  to  the  435,000,000  of  China. 
The  vast  Mohammedan  world,  hissing  with  hate  of 
Christendom,  would  instantly  join  hands  with  an 
efficient,  triumphant  Asiatic  league  in  order  to  com 
plete  and  share  its  supremacy  and  to  wreak  the  long 
pent-up  vengeance  on  Europe. 

"Then  our  turn  will  come.  The  Chinese  leaders 
gave  notice  long  ago  that  as  soon  as  they  are  strong 
enough  they  will  force  open  the  doors  of  Australia 
and  America  for  their  emigrants,  with  cannon  if 
necessary.  Then  the  question  will  arise:  l Shall 
America's  destiny  be  controlled  by  herself  or  by 
Asia? '  If  we  do  not  wish  to  adopt  the  policy  of  the 
ostrich,  trying  to  banish  the  peril  by  shutting  our 
eyes  to  it;  if  we  wish  to  make  good  our  boast  of  being 
the  most  active,  most  clear-sighted,  and  promptest 
Nation,  we  must  take  the  proper  steps  without  delay. 
A  stitch  in  time  saves  nine." 

The  economic  Yellow  Peril  is  the  form  immedi 
ately  experienced  when  Asiatics  compete  with  white 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      219 

labor.  The  tremendous  populations  of  Asiatic  coun 
tries  for  continuous  centuries  have  experienced  such 
keen  struggle  for  existence  that  only  those  have  sur 
vived  who  are  able  to  live  on  a  low  standard  and  to 
do  an  amazing  amount  of  hard  work.  Asiatics  labor 
contentedly  for  longer  hours  of  harder  toil  and  for 
less  compensation  than  do  white  laborers  in  any  land 
contiguous  to  Asiatic  ports.  With  free  competition 
in  industry,  agriculture,  and  all  forms  of  manual  la 
bor,  and  probably  also  in  trade,  Chinese  unquestion 
ably  surpass  every  other  race.  In  their  willingness 
to  live  on  a  narrow  margin  of  profits  and  oftentimes 
in  the  most  unwholesome,  even  squalid  quarters, 
Asiatic  peoples  as  a  whole  far  surpass  the  whites. 
Now  the  fear  of  Asiatics  arising  to-day  in  America, 
British  Columbia,  New  Zealand,  Australia,  and 
British  Africa  is  due  to  the  discovery  and  the  rising 
consciousness  of  Asiatic  economic  superiority,  to 
gether  with  the  inference  that  as  soon  as  Asia  ac 
quires  the  requisite  military  power  she  will  demand 
free  emigration  for  Asiatics  to  every  land  controlled 
by  whites. 

The  military  and  economic  Yellow  Perils  are, 
therefore,  intimately  related.  The  vast  and  increas 
ing  Asiatic  populations  will  compel  their  expansion, 
and  for  this  they  will  fight.  And  when  they  have 
mastered  the  secrets  of  the  white  man's  power,  they 
will  turn  this  knowledge  against  him.  And  because 
of  their  innumerable  hosts  of  efficient  workers  and 


220    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

fighters  they  will  conquer  even  the  white  man  in  the 
military  struggle  for  existence,  and  force  open  the 
gates  that  are  now  closed  to  Asiatic  migrations. 
Then  will  follow  in  each  land  fierce  economic  strug 
gles  between  the  laboring  classes — yellow  and  white 
— with  progressive  victory  for  the  yellow.  But  white 
laborers  will  not  tamely  submit.  There  will  be 
guerilla  race  warfare  in  every  land — until  one  race 
or  the  other  gains  complete  supremacy  throughout 
the  world.  But,  in  view  of  Chinese  industrial  supe 
riority,  who  can  doubt  the  final  issue? 

Those  who  see  the  impending  conflict  insist  that 
the  matter  at  stake  is  not  only  the  supremacy  but 
even  the  very  existence  of  the  white  race. 

The  essential  and  inherent  superiority  of  the  white 
race  and  its  civilization  is  one  of  the  fundamental 
postulates  of  the  entire  argument.  The  Asiatic  is, 
indeed,  superior  in  numbers,  in  ability  to  live  on 
almost  nothing,  and  perhaps  even  in  certain  kinds 
of  brain  power.  But  in  the  eyes  of  many  both  the 
Asiatic  and  his  civilization  are  despicable  and  de 
grading,  and  for  them  to  dominate  the  world  would 
be  an  unspeakable  calamity.  Asia  may  have  quan 
tity,  but  Christendom,  they  claim,  has  quality,  and, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  quality  should  be  supreme. 
Moreover,  as  Christendom  has  won  its  world-wide 
supremacy  by  the  sword,  by  the  sword  shall  it  be 
maintained. 

As  an  illustration  of  these  views  I  cite  the  follow- 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      221 

ing  paragraphs  from  the  speech  by  Honorable  Frank 
0.  Smith,  of  Maryland,  delivered  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  (November  5,  1913): 

"All  the  peace  that  ever  existed  within  any  nation 
is  compulsory;  it  would  not  last  five  minutes  were  it 
not  for  the  presence  of  the  executive  power  with  its 
well-filled  store  of  powder  and  ball.  It  is  inconceiv 
able  how  universal  peace  could  exist  without  a  sim 
ilar  executive  power  strong  enough  to  beat  down  all 
opposition  and  compelled  by  self-interest  to  maintain 
peace  just  as  Britain  is  compelled  to  do  among  the 
native  States  of  India. 

"Now,  peace,  after  all,  is  not  the  ultimate  end, 
but  merely  a  means  to  the  ultimate  end,  which  is  the 
increase  of  human  happiness.  This  does  not  mean 
that  the  majority  must  always  rule;  it  requires  that 
the  elite,  the  most  advanced  types  of  humanity, 
should  have  the  best  chance  to  spread  or  at  any  rate 
hold  their  own.  The  question  of  the  value  of  various 
races  is  a  knotty  scientific  problem  for  the  complete 
solution  of  which  the  data  are  as  yet  insufficient. 
Let  us  frankly  admit  that  some  races  have  not  as 
yet  had  adequate  opportunities.  Let  us  grant  that 
the  mere  plea  of  self-defense  or  the  tie  of  blood 
counts  for  nothing;  that  if  another  race  were  found 
by  trial  to  be  more  highly  endowed  with  the  qualities 
that  make  for  the  increase  of  happiness  our  own  race 
should  cheerfully  resign  the  leadership.  But  while 
awaiting  the  reasoned,  passionless  verdict  of  science 
on  these  points,  notning  could  be  more  preposterous 
than  to  assume  in  advance  that  the  verdict  will  be 
unfavorable  to  us  and  accordingly  to  let  events  take 
a  course  which  must  surely  deprive  our  race  of  the 
leadership  and  place  it  at  the  mercy  of  the  dusky 


222    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

majority.  The  evidence  in  favor  of  the  superiority 
of  our  race  is  even  now  fairly  overwhelming,  and  it  is 
highly  improbable  that  new  researches  will  materially 
alter  the  balance  of  argument.  Civilization  in  the 
future  as  in  the  past  will  mainly  depend  on  its  pio 
neers,  and  hence  it  is  best  for  human  life  as  a  whole 
that  the  pioneer  race  should  have  the  best  chance  to 
spread.  We  know  exactly  how  we  are  going  to  treat 
the  other  races  so  long  as  we  remain  in  control;  we 
shall  continue  more  and  more  to — 

"  '  Fill  up  the  mouth  of  famine 
And  bid  the  sickness  cease.' 

We  have  not  the  slightest  means  of  guessing  how 
the  other  races  will  treat  us  if  we  place  ourselves  at 
their  mercy. 

"Universal  arbitration  cannot  insure  the  predom 
inance  of  the  highest  types,  for  arbitration  resolves 
itself  in  the  long  run  into  a  counting  of  heads,  and 
for  every  white  face  in  the  world  there  are  two  dusky 
faces.  Disarmament,  the  substitution  of  universal 
arbitration  in  place  of  armed  defense,  would  simply 
hasten  the  coming  of  the  day  when  we  shall  have  to 
doff  the  crown  of  supremacy  and  don  the  cap  of 
subordination  and  prepare  to  quit  the  house  which 
we  have  swept  and  garnished.  Our  very  demigods 
of  intellect,  whose  genius  subdued  the  earth  and 
made  every  corner  of  it  accessible,  would  become  the 
authors  of  our  ruin  if  the  science  created  by  them  and 
rightly  placed  at  the  disposal  of  all  humanity  without 
stint  or  discrimination,  enabled  the  other  races  by 
their  reckless  fecundity  and  callousness,  to  oust  us 
from  the  competition  for  those  means  of  existence 
which  nature  necessarily  awards  to  the  lowest  bidder. 

"There  is  only  one  way  to  prevent  this.    Fortu- 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      223 

nately,  the  surrender  has  not  yet  proceeded  far.  For 
the  present  we  white  men  are  as  yet  incomparably 
superior  in  power  to  all  the  other  races,  and  we  can 
easily  remain  so  if  we  will." 

Not  a  few  see  the  Yellow  Peril  in  less  lurid  form, 
but  nevertheless  a  peril.  They  make  no  assumption 
of  inherent  white  superiority  or  of  essential  yellow 
inferiority.  They  assert  only  the  conspicuous  fact 
of  difference  due  to  ages  of  divergent  developments. 
They  assume,  however,  that  these  differences  are  so 
fixed  that  the  adoption  of  our  civilization  by  Asiatics, 
even  though  living  in  our  midst,  is  impossible  and 
our  acceptance  of  theirs  undesirable.  They  accord 
ingly  conclude  that  the  races  must  be  kept  forever 
apart.  Otherwise  insoluble  race  problems  will  arise 
and  forever  remain. 

Admiral  Mahan  well  illustrates  this  view  in  his 
letter  in  The  Times  (June,  1913),  in  reply  to  Sir 
Valentine  Chirol: 


"Personally  I  entirely  reject  any  assumption  or 
belief  that  my  race  is  superior  to  the  Chinese  or  Jap 
anese,  but  my  own  suits  me  better.  This  probably 
is  because  I  am  used  to  it,  but  I  wholly  disclaim,  as 
unworthy  of  myself  and  them,  any  thought  of  supe 
riority.  But  with  equal  clearness  I  see  and  avow  the 
difficulties  of  assimilation  which  are  due  to  the  form 
ative  influences  of  our  divergent  pasts. 

"What  the  racial  difficulty  entails,  even  where  the 
past  has  been  one  of  close  contact  and  common  ex 
periences,  the  present  Austrian  empire  can  testify, 


224    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

and  Britons,  too,  may  look  to  the  French  in  Canada, 
to  the  Boers  in  South  Africa,  though  these  latter  are 
of  the  same  general  Teuton  stock. 

"While  recognizing  what  I  clearly  see  to  be  the 
great  superiority  of  the  Japanese  as  of  the  white 
over  the  negro,  it  appeals  to  me  as  reasonable  that 
a  great  number  of  my  fellow-citizens,  knowing  the 
problem  we  have  in  the  colored  race  among  us,  should 
dread  the  introduction  of  what  they  believe  will  con 
stitute  another  race  problem,  and  one  much  more 
difficult  because  the  virile  qualities  of  the  Japanese 
will  still  more  successfully  withstand  assimilation, 
constituting  a  homogeneous  foreign  mass,  naturally 
acting  together,  irrespective  of  national  welfare,  and 
so  will  be  the  perennial  cause  of  a  friction  with  Japan 
even  more  dangerous  than  at  present. 

"It  is  not  a  color  question,  though  that  may  em 
phasize  the  difficulty.  It  is  the  recurrent  problem 
which  confronts  Germany  in  Poland,  Austria  in  her 
Slav  provinces,  Canada  in  her  French  population 
and  South  Africa  in  the  Boers. 

"Despite  her  gigantic  success  up  to  the  present 
in  her  assimilative  processes,  America  doubts  her 
power  to  digest  and  assimilate  the  strong  national 
and  racial  characteristics  which  distinguish  the  Jap 
anese,  which  are  the  secret  of  much  of  their  success, 
and  which,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  would  constitute 
them  a  continually  solid  and  homogeneous  body, 
essentially  and  unchangingly  foreign." 

Two  methods  for  warding  off  the  Yellow  Peril  are 
now  advocated.  The  first  is  already  widely  adopted 
in  all  white  lands  adjacent  to  Asia,  namely,  Asiatic 
exclusion.  The  whites  have  built,  for  protection 
against  peaceful  invasion  by  Asiatics,  a  wall  longer 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      225 

by  thousands  of  miles  than  the  great  wall  of  China. 
Will  it  prove  more  effective  and  permanent? 

This  method  proposes  to  keep  each  race  to  the 
territories  they  now  hold.  Hindoos,  Chinese,  and 
Japanese  must  stay  in  Asia,  however  many  they  are 
and  whatever  may  be  their  needs;  while  the  white 
races  may  possess  and  exploit  the  rest  of  the  earth. 

The  execution  of  this  policy  depends,  of  course,  on 
military  power.  The  wall  of  exclusion  is  built  and 
maintained  by  armies  and  navies.  The  power  of 
each  separate  white  people  has  thus  far  been  quite 
enough. 

But  a  new  thought  is  emerging.  Japan's  amazing 
victory  over  Russia  has  raised  doubts  among  white 
nations.  The  despised  Asiatic,  armed  and  drilled 
with  Western  weapons,  is  a  power  that  must  be 
reckoned  with.  In  the  not  distant  future  Asia, 
armed,  drilled,  and  united,  will  surpass  in  power,  they 
aver,  any  single  white  people,  and  it  is  accordingly 
a  peril  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  A  new  plan  for 
safety  has  already  been  conceived  and  is  now  being 
discussed  in  the  council  halls  of  the  nations. 

In  his  famous  letter  to  the  Thirteenth  Universal 
Peace  Congress,  held  in  Boston  in  1904,  Mr.  Car 
negie,  with  no  thought  whatever  of  the  Yellow  Peril, 
made  the  following  suggestion: 

"Since  we  have  at  last  in  The  Hague  tribunal  a 
permanent  high  court  for  the  settlement  of  inter 
national  disputes  more  and  more  my  thoughts  turn 


226    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

upon  the  next  possible  and  necessary  step  forward 
to  an  agreement  by  certain  powers  to  prevent  appeals 
to  war  by  civilized  nations. 

"Suppose,  for  instance,  that  Britain,  France,  Ger 
many,  and  America,  with  such  minor  States  as  would 
certainly  join  them,  were  to  take  that  position,  pre 
pared,  if  defied,  to  enforce  peaceful  settlement,  the 
first  offender  (if  ever  there  were  one)  being  rigorously 
dealt  with,  war  would  at  one  fell  swoop  be  banished 
from  the  earth.  For  such  a  result  surely  the  people 
of  these  four  countries  would  be  willing  to  risk  much. 
The  risk,  however,  would  be  trifling.  A  strong  com 
bination  would  efface  it  altogether.  I  think,  this  one 
simple  plan  most  likely  to  commend  itself  to  the  in 
telligent  masses.  A  committee  might  be  formed  to 
consider  this.  If  a  body  of  prominent  men  of  each 
nation  agreed  to  unite  in  urging  the  co-operation  of 
their  respective  countries  in  the  movement,  I  think 
the  idea  would  soon  spread." 

Colonel  Roosevelt,  in  his  address  at  Christiania  in 
1910,  presented  the  same  thought  in  the  following 
words: 

"  It  would  be  a  master  stroke  if  those  great  powers 
honestly  bent  on  peace  would  form  a  league  of  peace, 
not  only  to  keep  the  peace  among  themselves  but  to 
prevent,  by  force  if  necessary,  its  being  broken  by 
others." 

This  suggestion  has  proved  a  stimulating  thought 
to  those  who  see  the  impending  military  Yellow  Peril. 

Honorable  Albert  Johnson,  already  quoted,  regards 
Alaska  as  in  imminent  danger  of  capture  by  Japan. 
Not  only  does  he  advocate  the  construction  of  a 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      227 

Panama-to-Alaska  railway  in  order  that  America 
may  have  facilities  for  defence  along  the  entire  Pacific 
coast,  but  he  also  urges  an  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance  of  the  four  great  white  nations  as  the  only 
safe  policy  for  the  white  race  in  the  coming  conflict 
with  Asia. 

"What  are  the  proper  steps?  Against  united 
Asia,  a  power  of  900,000,000,  soon  to  number 
1,000,000,000,  there  is  but  one  defense— the  early 
union  of  the  white  nations.  This,  therefore,  must 
be  the  keynote  of  our  policy.  I  am  glad  to  be  able 
to  announce  that  a  movement 1  in  that  direction  has 
been  started  in  this  very  capital  of  the  Nation,  and 
that  a  promise  of  co-operation  has  already  been 
received  from  Europe.  I  feel  confident  that  the 
seed  has  fallen  on  fertile  soil  and  in  the  right  season, 
and  while  its  growth  may  not  be  as  rapid  as  the 
planters  might  wish,  it  has  every  prospect  of  bear 
ing  fruit.  .  .  . 

"  Many  of  you  feel  it  a  burden  to  have  to  maintain 
a  navy  sufficient  to  hold  its  own  against  the  Japanese 
navy,  supported  by  the  meagre  resources  of  a  nation 
of  fifty  millions.  What  sort  of  a  navy  shall  we  have 
to  maintain  when  the  rival  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Pacific  numbers  900,000,000?  And  what  about  the 
army?  Europe,  with  440,000,000  population,  keeps 
5,000,000  men  under  arms.  Asia,  with  more  than 

1  The  movement  to  which  Mr.  Johnson  refers,  the  Pan-Aryan 
Association,  has  put  forth  an  outline  of  its  proposition,  the  principal 
parts  of  which  are  given  in  the  congressional  report  of  Mr.  Johnson's 
speech.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  association  is  as  yet  the  proposition 
of  a  single  individual — a  German — with  whom  I  conversed  in  Wash 
ington.  Supposing  him  to  be  the  secretary,  I  asked  him  who  the 
other  officers  of  the  association  were,  to  which  he  humorously  replied: 
"  I  am  it." 


228    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

twice  the  population,  can  easily  keep  8,000,000.  Can 
you  conceive  of  any  way  by  which  we  could  then 
escape  compulsory  military  service?  Australia  and 
New  Zealand  have  already  been  compelled  to  adopt 
it. 

"Any  one  can  see  that  the  four  great  powder- 
making  nations,  the  four  great  gun-making,  machine- 
using,  coal-mining,  shipbuilding,  money-owning, 
technically  trained  nations,  representing  probably 
nine-tenths  of  the  world's  industry,  would  together 
constitute  such  an  overwhelming  power  as  to  make 
war  henceforth  impossible.  It  would  mean  the 
almost  immediate  arrest  of  armaments  and  their 
gradual  reduction  to  a  mere  fraction  of  their  present 
size.  Not  only  would  our  insurance  policy  cost  us 
nothing,  but  it  would  greatly  reduce  our  present 
expenditure.  This  union  of  the  four  leading  nations 
we  can  bring  about  by  simply  creating  an  organiza 
tion  for  the  purpose." 

The  speech  by  the  Honorable  Frank  0.  Smith,  al 
ready  quoted,  also  deals  with  this  proposition;  it  con 
tains  many  remarkable  points.  He  advocates  the  es 
tablishment  of  an  "International  Executive  Power  to 
Insure  Universal  Peace  and  the  Union  and  Suprem 
acy  of  the  White  Race."  The  occasion  of  his  speech 
was  the  resolution  that  "The  President  be  requested 
to  negotiate  with  the  British  and  Canadian  Govern 
ments  regarding  the  transfer  of  southeastern  Alaska 
to  Canada  by  sale  or  exchange  or  both." 

The  argument  presented  was  that  by  ceding  to 
Canada  that  strip  of  Alaska,  536  miles  long  by  8  to 
35  miles  wide,  which  Canada  needs  and  we  do  not, 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      229 

we  shall  set  before  the  world  such  a  contagious 
example  of  conciliation  and  good-will  that  many  con 
cessions  will  be  made  among  the  nations  of  Europe 
and  finally  the  effective  union  among  the  whites  be 
attained,  which  is  essential  to  the  maintenance  of 
their  supremacy  in  the  face  of  the  rising  power  of 
Asia.  I  select  further  typical  sentences  for  quota 
tion: 

"The  purpose  of  the  resolution  is  not  only  to  pro 
mote  good  feeling  between  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  but  also  to  take  a  decisive  step  toward  uni 
versal  peace.  The  reasoning  is  very  simple.  Peace 
is  not  possible  without  an  executive  power  to  enforce 
it.  An  international  executive  power  to  enforce 
universal  peace  can  not  be  organized  until  the  lead 
ing  nations  make  certain  mutual  concessions.  The 
purpose  of  the  resolution  is  to  advocate  these  mutual 
concessions  by  the  most  persuasive,  the  most  in 
offensive  method — that  of  example,  by  making  a 
model  concession  to  Canada.  It  deals  with  what  I 
consider  the  most  important  problem  of  the  day — 
the  union  of  the  white  race  as  the  only  means  to 
maintain  its  supremacy.  .  .  .  The  ultimate  object  is 
the  promotion  of  universal  peace  by  the  most  practi 
cal  means,  to  wit,  an  international  executive  power 
consisting  of  the  four  leading  white  nations,  Britain, 
France,  Germany,  and  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

"The  external  pressure  which  may  be  expected  to 
squeeze  Britain,  France,  Germany,  and  the  United 
States  into  union  has  been  well  described  by  my 
fellow  legislator,  Mr.  Albert  Johnson — the  growing 
power  of  eastern  Asia,  which  threatens  within  a  few 
years  to  drive  Britain  out  of  India  and  Australia, 


230    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

France  out  of  Indo-China,  Holland  out  of  the  Dutch 
East  Indies,  and,  thus  re-enforced,  to  swallow  Sibe 
ria  and  finally  overwhelm  Russia  herself  and  bring 
countless  Mongol  hosts  once  more  to  the  frontier  of 
Germany  as  in  1241.  In  the  face  of  this  common 
danger  the  continuance  of  disunion  among  the  great 
white  nations  is  really  a  piece  of  childish  levity.  .  .  . 

"Keep  up  that  programme  (of  quarrelling  in  Eu 
rope)  till  Asia,  united  and  fully  armed,  asserts  her 
long-claimed  right  to  colonize — and  no  human  being 
was  ever  born  that  would  not  assert  the  right  to 
better  his  condition  when  he  had  the  power — and 
your  paper  treaties  of  arbitration  will  be  blown  away 
in  an  instant  by  a  world-wide  cyclone  of  war,  com 
pared  to  which  all  past  wars  would  be  games  of  base 
ball.  To  delay  the  settlement  of  the  burning  ques 
tions  another  day  is  to  hazard  the  timely  union,  the 
supremacy,  the  very  existence,  of  the  white  race.  .  .  . 

"To  our  neighbor,  Canada,  we  can  make  a  model 
concession  which  would  electrify  the  world,  take  the 
heart  of  Europe  by  storm,  sweep  away  the  inertia  of 
a  hundred  wrongly  accomplished  facts,  and  continue 
for  centuries  tearing  iron  shirts  of  pernicious  habit 
into  shreds." 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND   WHITE    (CONTINUED) 

THE  Yellow  Peril  as  conceived  by  the  whites  and 
the  methods  proposed  for  meeting  it  occupied  our 
attention  in  the  last  chapter.  In  this  we  consider 
the  White  Peril  as  conceived  by  Asiatics  and  the 
methods  they  propose  for  meeting  it. 

With  the  discovery  of  America  the  greed  of  the 
white  races  for  land  and  gold  was  awakened.  Ex 
ploration  and  conquest  went  hand  in  hand.  Little 
bands  of  armed  white  men  found  themselves  superior 
to  countless  hosts  of  colored  foes.  The  religion  of 
the  times  promoted  foreign  conquest.  Spanish  sol 
diers  of  fortune  accompanied  by  priests  for  the  prop 
agation  of  the  faith  first  "fell  upon  their  knees  and 
then  upon  the  aborigines,"  as  a  witty  historian  has 
described  it. 

The  white  peoples  of  western  Europe  soon  de 
veloped  the  conviction  that  the  world  and  all  that 
is  therein  were  made  for  their  special  benefit;  that 
all  the  peoples  and  wealth  of  pagan  lands  were  legiti 
mate  objects  of  plunder  and  spoliation;  that  it  was 
their  divinely  given  right  to  own,  rule,  and  exploit 
every  land  and  people  they  discovered.  The  kings 

231 


232    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

and  potentates  of  Europe  gave  to  favorites  vast  ter 
ritories  still  unconquered,  to  which  their  only  title 
was  that  of  partial  discovery.  The  prior  rights  of 
the  natives  gave  them  no  second  thought.  The 
white  man  was  wholly  within  his  God-given  rights 
in  taking  all  he  could  and  in  killing  those  who 
opposed. 

The  millions  ruthlessly  butchered,  the  awful 
crimes  committed  by  white  invaders  of  central  and 
southern  America,  and  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  In 
dians  in  North  America  constitute  a  page  in  the 
history  of  white  men  that  is  horrible  and  humiliating 
to  think  of.  And  this  general  aim  of  dominating, 
by  brutal  force  if  necessary,  over  every  colored  race 
throughout  the  world  has  taken  possession  of  the 
white  nations  of  Europe  and  still  rules  their  hearts. 

Victorious,  world-wide  conquest  has  gone  on  with 
out  serious  check.  In  1904,  however,  for  the  first 
time  since  modern  history  began  has  a  colored  race 
successfully  defended  its  homeland  from  white  in 
vaders — for  that  was  the  significance  of  the  Russo- 
Japanese  War.  In  the  course  of  these  four  hundred 
years  of  unbroken  conquest  the  peoples  of  Europe 
have  taken  the  entire  new  world — America,  North 
and  South;  practically  all  of  Africa,  Australia,  New 
Zealand,  and  Siberia,  and  large  parts  of  Asia.  Only 
Japan  and  China  remained,  and  it  looked,  in  1900,  as 
though  China,  because  of  her  inner  corruption,  reac 
tionary  policy,  and  opium  craze,  was  soon  to  be  dis- 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      233 

membered  and  taken  over  by  the  European  nations. 
Preliminary  to  the  partition  of  China,  Russia  needed 
Korea,  where  she  could  have  her  hand  on  Japan's 
throat. 

But  Russia  and  the  world  did  not  know  Japan. 
Port  Arthur,  the  naval  battle  in  the  Straits  of  Tsu 
shima  and  Mukden,  repelled  the  white  invasion.  A 
turning-point  was  reached  in  the  history  of  the  mili 
tary  relations  of  the  East  and  West  as  significant 
probably  for  Asia  as  the  battles  of  Salamis  and 
Poitiers  were  in  the  history  of  Europe. 

Europe  discovered  that  her  dreams  of  world  dom 
ination  were  disputed;  that  the  partition  of  China 
was  by  no  means  a  foregone  conclusion.  All  Asia 
was  electrified  and  inspired  with  new  hope.  The 
true  way  to  meet  the  White  Peril  was  now  at  last 
taught  to  the  races  that  had  been  helpless  and  hope 
less.  New  China  and  Persia  and  Turkey  have  al 
ready  come  into  existence  and  are  starting  along  the 
path  of  inner  development. 

The  way  in  which  Japan  met  and  overcame  the 
White  Peril  is  highly  instructive. 

When  Francis  Xavier  and  the  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries  reached  Japan,  in  the  middle  of  the  six 
teenth  century,  they  were  welcomed  and  every  op 
portunity  was  given  them  to  preach  their  new  faith. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  Japanese  became  Chris 
tians  in  the  course  of  the  following  sixty  years;  some 
maintain  that  as  many  as  a  million  converts  were  se- 


234    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

cured.  Japanese  representatives  went  to  Rome  and 
saw  impressive  sights  and  heard  strange  tales  of  con 
quests  of  vast  continents.  They  also  learned  of  the 
fierce  conflicts  between  south  and  north  Europe, 
between  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant  Christi 
anity,  and  of  the  Inquisition. 

The  rulers  in  Japan  and  Japanese  travellers 
abroad  soon  discovered  the  ambitions  and  greed  of 
white  races.  They  concluded,  ere  long,  that  the  white 
man  and  his  religion  were  dangers  to  be  avoided. 
The  method  decided  upon  was  exclusion.  Christi 
anity  was  accordingly  exterminated  with  great  loss 
of  life  both  by  warfare  and  by  persecution.  Not 
only  were  all  foreigners  to  be  kept  out  of  Japan,  but 
no  Japanese  were  to  travel  abroad  nor  was  trade  with 
foreign  lands  to  be  permitted.  Japan,  therefore, 
destroyed  her  largest  seaworthy  three-masted  junks 
and  built  no  more.  Japanese  left  their  native  land 
at  the  peril  of  their  lives.  All  oversea  commerce 
and  even  pirating  expeditions  along  the  coast  of 
China  were  forbidden. 

For  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  Japan  thus  lived 
entirely  to  herself,  safe  from  the  peril  of  the  white 
man.  Exclusion  was  her  policy,  and  so  far  as  exclu 
sion  was  concerned  it  was  an  unquestioned  success. 
It  was  absolute.  But  she  paid  a  heavy  penalty. 
Who  can  tell  what  her  attainments  in  many  lines 
might  not  have  been  had  her  bright  and  enterprising 
sons  been  allowed  to  acquire  the  world's  best  knowl- 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      235 

edge.  She  would  certainly  have  been  spared  the 
bitter  experience  of  finding  herself  belated  in  the  race 
and  compelled  to  adopt  such  heroic  measures  as  have 
been  necessary  during  the  past  fifty  years  in  order, 
in  a  measure,  to  catch  up  with  the  rest  of  the  world 
and  attain  sufficient  power  to  maintain  her  inde 
pendence. 

Discovering,  in  1853,  that  the  white  man  was  upon 
her  with  irresistible  power,  having  ships  that  by  some 
magic  sailed  without  wind  and  guns  and  cannon 
far  surpassing  hers,  and  seeing  the  fate  which  had 
just  befallen  China  in  her  two  opium  wars,  Japan 
abandoned  her  policy  of  exclusion  and  decided  in 
stead  of  excluding  the  foreigner  to  learn  from  him, 
to  master  the  secrets  of  his  power,  and  to  adopt  as 
much  of  his  civilization  as  she  found  useful  and  true. 
And  this  has  been  the  significance  of  her  history  for 
the  past  fifty  years,  with  results  which  all  the  world 
now  knows. 

Though  fearing,  despising,  and  hating  the  white 
man,  his  civilization  and  his  religion,  yet  she  bowed 
her  proud  head.  She  became  as  a  little  child.  She 
acknowledged  her  error  and  now  has  discovered  that, 
after  all,  it  was  the  way  of  life.  The  medicine  was 
not  so  bad.  It  has  given  her  fresh  power  and  a  rec 
ognized  position  among  the  great  nations,  along  with 
a  new  wealth  of  inner  richness  the  full  measure  of 
which  she  finds  hard  to  estimate. 

Japan  to-day  stands  where  the  two  streams  of 


236    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

civilization  meet.  And  they  are  meeting  there  be 
cause  of  what  she  has  done.  To  all  Asia  she  points 
the  way  of  national  independence  and  the  way  in 
which  to  meet  the  White  Peril.  Does  she  also  point 
for  Western  nations  the  way  in  which  to  meet  the 
Yellow  Peril? 

The  white  man  little  realizes  the  feeling  against 
him  entertained  throughout  Asia.  The  yellow  man 
despises  him  as  cordially  as  the  yellow  man  is  de 
spised  by  him.  But  there  is  a  difference.  In  addition 
to  this  feeling  of  scorn;  the  average  educated  Asiatic 
who  knows  the  world-situation  is  filled  with  indigna 
tion  at  the  high-handed  methods  of  the  whites.  He 
sees  the  plight  in  which  east  Asia  is  placed. 

She  is  hemmed  in  by  white  men  on  every  side. 
Now  that  Western  ideas  and  ideals  are  gripping 
the  East,  infanticide  is  being  forbidden.  Occidental 
hygiene,  medicine,  and  surgery,  moreover,  along  with 
occidental  belief  in  the  value  of  the  individual,  are 
working  mightily  for  the  prolongation  of  life.  This 
has  already  resulted  in  the  doubling  of  the  popula 
tion  of  Japan  since  she  adopted  Western  civilization. 
When  these  new  ideals  and  practices  gain  full  head 
way  in  China  and  India,  how  enormous  will  be  the 
populations  to  be  fed  and  governed!  Whence  will 
come  the  needed  food?  or  where  can  Asiatics  go  for 
work? 

Moreover,  with  the  increasing  intelligence  of  Asia 
there  is  rising  national  and  racial  self-consciousness 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      237 

and  rising  indignation  at  the  loss  of  sovereignty 
which  every  nation  save  Japan  has  experienced. 
How  can  China  recover  complete  sovereignty?  How 
can  she  regain  Kiao  Chao,  Shanghai,  Hongkong,  and 
Indo-China? 

Would  Americans  feel  satisfied  were  Staten  Island 
owned  by  France,  New  Jersey  seized  and  held  by 
Italy  because  of  certain  murdered  Italians,  Cape  Cod 
possessed  by  Germany,  and  Manhattan  Island 
divided  up  into  foreign  concessions  and  owned  and 
governed  by  the  various  nations?  Would  Americans 
be  quite  friendly  toward  those  nations  that  had 
robbed  her?  Such,  however,  is  practically  the  con 
dition  of  China.  The  indignation  of  her  educated, 
wide-awake  people  is  none  the  less  real  because  not 
openly  expressed.  But  the  day  will  come  when  that 
indignation  will  be  expressed. 

That  these  statements  are  not  without  foundation 
let  the  following  facts  attest :  Three  years  ago,  while 
lecturing  in  the  Imperial  University  in  Kyoto  in  the 
department  of  Comparative  Religion,  I  was  asked 
by  the  secretary  of  the  Buddhist  Young  Men's 
Association  to  read  for  him  a  long  English  letter 
from  the  secretary  of  a  Hindoo  Young  Men's  Asso 
ciation  in  India.  The  purport  of  the  letter  was  that 
the  white  peoples  had  seized  all  the  land  of  the 
weaker  people  whose  rights  they  entirely  ignored; 
it  told  of  the  sexual  passions  of  white  men  who  ruin 
the  homes  of  Asiatics,  giving  a  few  specific  incidents, 


238    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

and  it  closed  with  the  appeal  that  all  Asia  should 
unite  not  only  to  prevent  further  depredations 
but  finally  to  drive  the  white  man  entirely  out  of 
Asia. 

In  the  winter  of  1912-13  Mr.  Tokutomi,  one  of 
Japan's  most  brilliant  and  influential  editors,  coined 
a  new  word,  "hakubatsu,"  which  may  be  translated 
"albinocracy,"  or  "  white-domination.'7  In  a  series 
of  editorials  he  set  forth  the  mighty  power  of  the 
white  nations  contrasted  with  the  weakness  of  the 
other  races.  He  did  not  blame  the  former.  It  was 
merely  a  case  of  struggle  for  existence  and  victory 
of  the  strong  over  the  weak.  The  colored  races  were 
weak  and  deserved  to  be  beaten.  The  point  of  the 
editorials  was  that  we,  Japanese,  must  be  strong  and 
able,  as  well  as  the  white  men,  to  take  our  fair  share 
in  the  rule  of  the  world  and  in  the  possession  of  its 
wealth. 

In  May,  1913,  there  was  published  in  a  Japanese 
magazine,  and  republished  in  the  Japan  Advertiser, 
an  article  on  "The  White  Peril,"  by  Professor  Nagai, 
of  Waseda  University,  Tokyo.  Here,  too,  the  re 
spective  positions  of  the  white  and  yellow  races  in 
America,  Canada,  Africa,  Australia,  and  Asia  were 
stated.  From  his  closing  paragraphs  a  few  sentences 
may  be  quoted :  "  The  present  attitude  of  the  white 
races  may  be  white  but  it  certainly  is  not  Christian. 
.  .  .  How  can  the  white  races  have  the  face  to 
demand  equal  opportunities  in  the  Far  East  when 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      239 

they  have  denied  them  to  the  Far  East  in  the  West. 
.  .  .  We  do  not  pretend  to  be  Christian,  but  we  be 
lieve  in  doing  unto  others  that  which  we  would  have 
them  do  unto  us!  ...  If  one  race  assumes  the  right 
to  appropriate  all  the  wealth,  why  should  not  all 
other  races  feel  ill-used  and  protest?  ...  If  the 
white  races  truly  love  peace  and  wish  to  deserve  the 
name  of  Christian  nations,  they  will  practice  what 
they  preach  and  will  soon  restore  to  us  the  rights  so 
long  withheld.  They  will  rise  to  the  generosity  of 
welcoming  our  citizens  among  them  as  heartily  as 
we  do  theirs  among  us.  ...  We,  therefore,  appeal 
to  the  white  races  to  put  aside  their  race  prejudice 
and  meet  us  on  equal  terms  in  brotherly  co-operation. 
This  will  convince  us  of  their  sincerity  more  quickly 
than  a  thousand  proclamations  of  peace  and  good-will 
while  denying  us  sympathy  and  fair  play.  Words 
and  attitudes  without  charity  are  as  sounding  brass 
and  tinkling  cymbal." 

During  the  summer  of  1913  a  series  of  educational 
lectures  for  western  Japan  was  given  in  Osaka.  One 
of  the  series  was  delivered  by  an  eloquent  Hindoo, 
Dharmapala,  on  "Japan's  Duty  to  the  World." 
The  orator  described  at  length  the  destruction 
wrought  by  Mohammedan  and  Christian  marauders 
in  all  parts  of  the  world,  particularly  in  Asia,  a  story 
all  too  true  and  dramatically  told.  Japan  alone  has 
escaped;  she  is  the  custodian  of  the  sublime  Aryan 
civilization,  and  is  now  the  one  colored  race  able  to 


240    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

lead  the  forces  of  Asia  in  their  conflict  with  the 
White  Peril.  "To  the  great  Aryanized  family, 
whose  home  is  India,  numbering  about  800,000,000, 
belong  the  Japanese,  Koreans,  Mongolians,  Chinese, 
Siamese,  Cambodians,  Burmese,  Sinhalese.  This  great 
Asiatic  brotherhood,  under  the  leadership  of  Japan 
can  again  regain  their  lost  place  in  the  world's  his 
tory.  .  .  .  Japan,  by  its  superior  status,  therefore, 
is  perfectly  justified  in  guiding  the  destinies  of  the 
Asiatic  races." 

The  use  of  the  Aryan  name  by  both  Occidental  and 
Oriental  in  describing  their  own  race  and  civilization 
as  against  the  opposing  peril  is  no  less  suggestive  than 
it  is  amusing.  May  it  not  be  prophetic? 

But,  in  contrast  to  these  utterances  proclaiming  the 
White  Peril,  note  what  Count  Okuma  is  reported  to 
have  said  in  regard  to  India:  "India  was  at  the  head 
of  all  civilized  countries  in  ancient  times,  but  what 
was  the  cause  by  which  she  was  reduced  to  her  pres 
ent  state?  She  brought  it  about  herself.  She  fell 
behind,  because  her  social  organization  did  not  con 
form  to  the  international  standard.  From  the  rep 
rehensible  caste  institution,  from  religious  supersti 
tions,  conjoined  with  various  other  causes,  the 
Indian  nation  has  been  unable  to  withstand  inter 
national  competition.  The  rise  or  fall  of  a  nation  is 
brought  about  by  the  people  themselves,  and  no  other 
force  is  responsible  for  a  nation's  downfall.  Rome 
was  not  brought  to  its  destruction  by  the  northern 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      241 

barbarians,  but  by  the  Romans  themselves.  There 
fore,  I  always  give  advice  to  my  most  beloved  Indian 
friends  to  cease  from  their  aversion  to  England,  and 
to  recognize  their  own  weak  points  and  to  cultivate 
the  knowledge  and  morality  that  correspond  to  the 
present  world  requirements." 

Baron  Kikuchi,  moreover,  former  Minister  of  Edu 
cation  and  later  President  of  the  Imperial  University 
of  Kyoto,  at  present  a  member  of  the  Imperial  Privy 
Council,  writing  about  Japan's  place  in  Asia  and 
her  ambitions  for  leadership,  makes  the  following 
statement:  "There  seems  to  be  some  misunderstand 
ing  in  America  and  Europe  about  our  'pretensions'; 
we  are  supposed  to  stand  forth  as  the  champion  of 
the  East  against  the  West,  leaders  of  the  yellow  race 
against  the  white.  We  make  no  such  pretension; 
we  have  always  striven  to  take  whatever  we  find  in 
the  Western  civilization,  material,  intellectual  and 
moral,  superior  to  our  original  civilization,  trying  at 
the  same  time  to  preserve  whatever  is  worth  preserv 
ing  in  our  own.  Our  ambition,  if  we  have  any  beyond 
that,  is  to  act  as  a  sort  of  interpreter  between  East 
and  West;  we  can  perhaps  do  more  to  make  them 
intelligible  to  one  another  than  any  other  nation,  so 
that  all  this  race  antagonism,  based  upon  mutual 
ignorance,  may  at  last  be  done  away  with.  In  the 
mean  time  we  want  to  be  judged  for  ourselves,  on 
our  intrinsic  merits,  upon  what  we  have  proved 
ourselves  to  be,  and  not  upon  what  we  are  imagined 


242    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

to  be  from  the  color  of  our  skin  or  the  situation  of  our 
country." 

Asiatic  proposals  for  meeting  the  White  Peril  have 
already  been  more  than  suggested.  Japan  has  indeed 
discovered  for  herself,  as  we  have  seen,  the  road,  and 
all  Asia  has  observed  and  begun  to  follow. 

The  first  reaction  of  Asia  on  meeting  the  white 
man  was  fear,  scorn,  exclusion.  India  with  her 
mutiny  and  China  with  her  Boxer  uprising  tried  to 
establish  exclusion,  but  too  late.  For  well-nigh  a 
century  both  India  and  China  thought  they  could 
exclude  occidental  influence  by  ignoring  it  and  de 
spising  it;  but  Christian  missionaries,  educators,  and 
physicians  gradually  entered  their  lands,  as  also  they 
entered  Japan,  taught  their  young  men,  healed  their 
sick,  fed  their  famine  sufferers,  had  pity  on  their 
lepers  and  outcasts,  and  gave  mighty  object-lessons  of 
the  real  teachings  and  spirit  of  true  Christianity. 

Slowly  all  the  East  has  come  to  see  and  believe 
that  there  are  white  men  and  white  men.  By  their 
patience  in  well-doing,  by  returning  good  for  evil 
and  love  for  hate,  by  their  endurance  of  persecution 
and  even  of  martyrdom,  by  their  wisdom,  skill,  and 
amazing  efficiency — in  a  word,  by  their  lives  of  self- 
sacrifice,  seeking  no  reward  of  men,  nor  even  to  be 
seen  of  men,  missionaries  have  accomplished  the 
impossible;  they  have  broken  down  mighty  race 
prejudice  to  an  incredible  degree.  They  have  con 
vinced  all  Asia  that  Christianity  is  at  least  a  good 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      243 

religion,  and  that  true  Christians,  though  white,  are 
good  people.  Asia  now  knows  that  not  all  white 
men  believe  in  brutal  race  aggression;  that  among 
the  whites  are  large  numbers  who  strive  to  make 
goodness,  truth,  and  justice  prevail  among  the  na 
tions,  who  are  sincere  and  honest  friends  of  the 
yellow  man. 

These  influences,  with  the  example  of  successful 
Japan  and  the  testimony  of  those  who  have  lived 
in  Western  lands,  have  entirely  broken  down  the  his 
toric  attitude  of  Asia  toward  the  West.  To-day  all 
Asia  is  beginning  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  Europe  and 
America  to  learn.  They  desire  to  assimilate  our 
civilization  so  far  as  they  find  it  good  and  of  help  to 
them  in  building  up  their  national  life  and  recovering 
their  lost  sovereignty. 

Asia  proposes  to  acquire  the  white  man's  mastery 
of  nature,  to  gain  access  to  his  sources  of  power,  to 
develop  the  material  instruments  of  civilization  and 
wealth,  to  raise  the  standard  of  life  for  all  her  peoples, 
and,  as  a  means  to  this  and  to  the  attainment  of 
political  independence  and  power,  she  plans  to  arm 
and  drill  her  armies  and  build  her  navies. 

In  a  word,  Asia  proposes  to  make  the  West  her 
teacher,  and  thus  to  turn  what  she  has  regarded  as 
her  most  menacing  danger  into  a  source  of  highest 
benefit. 

That  Asia  or  any  part  of  it  has  plans  for  aggressive 
vengeance  on  the  white  man,  or  expectation  of  ability 


244    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

to  conquer  the  white  man  at  his  own  game — world 
wide  warfare  and  conquest — appears  nowhere.  At 
this  stage  of  their  development  Asiatics  would  be 
immensely  satisfied  if  they  could  successfully  hold 
their  own  against  the  white  man,  regaining  lost  ter 
ritory  and  re-establishing  complete  sovereignty. 
More  than  that  is  not  in  their  wildest  dreams — less 
than  that  would  be  ignominious. 

This  statement  of  the  White  Peril  has  been  made 
as  objective  as  possible,  i.  e.,  from  the  standpoint  of 
Asiatics.  In  view  of  the  white  man's  outrageous 
treatment  of  the  colored  races,  it  is  no  doubt  diffi 
cult  for  Asiatics  to  see  any  justification  whatever  for 
the  white  man's  world- wide  expansion.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  however,  this  whole  situation  has  been  prac 
tically  inevitable.  It  has  arisen  out  of  the  long  ages 
of  divergent  evolution  producing  diverse  races,  lan 
guages,  and  civilizations.  Some  peoples  are  inevi 
tably  in  advance  of  others  on  specific  lines  of  devel 
opment.  Any  race  developing  as  the  white  has 
developed  would  have  entered  on  the  same  course 
of  world-discovery  and  conquest  and  would  have 
treated  alien  races  in  the  same  way.  It  is  hard  for 
conquered  races  to  acknowledge  that  they  themselves 
are  in  part  to  blame  for  the  way  in  which  they  have 
been  treated.  Japanese  partial  loss  of  sovereignty 
from  1853  to  1899,  however,  was  due  to  her  defec 
tive  civilization  and  laws  which  allowed  inhuman 


I 
*  a 


t 


II 


THE  PERILS— YELLOW  AND  WHITE      245 

treatment  of  individuals  charged  with  crime  and  to 
her  intolerance  of  all  aliens.  Chinese  civilization, 
too,  though  admirable  in  many  respects,  has  been 
abominably  belated  in  others.  If  the  East  and  the 
West  were  ever  to  come  into  contact  at  all,  treaty 
ports  and  extra-territorial  administration  of  justice 
were  inevitable.  Japan  and  China  were  not  pre 
pared  to  supervise  communities  composed  of  indi 
viduals  of  many  nationalities.  The  subjection  of 
India  to  British  rule  was  no  part  of  a  general  plan  of 
conquest.  It  grew  out  of  the  chaotic  political  situ 
ation  in  India  and  the  inability  of  her  antagonistic 
castes,  tribes,  and  provinces  to  maintain  stable  gov 
ernment.  If  China  is  finally  partitioned  among  the 
"  powers,"  it  will  really  be  through  Chinese  political 
incompetence.  Japan's  absorption  of  Korea  was 
likewise  due  to  Korean  political  corruption  and  in 
competence.  The  White  Peril,  accordingly,  is  not  to 
be  conceived  as  due  exclusively  to  wanton  aggression. 
Through  the  development  of  man's  mastery  of  na 
ture,  world-wide  discovery,  with  the  contact  of  races, 
was  inevitable.  Because  of  diverse  languages,  mutual 
understanding  was  impossible.  Different  social  cus 
toms  and  ideals — along  with  man's  natural  selfish 
ness  and  greed — inevitably  led  to  Conflict.  White 
military  superiority  inevitably  resulted  in  conquest. 
But  the  time  has  come  for  whites  and  yellows  and 
browns  and  blacks  to  seek  methods  of  peace  and 
progress.  These  can  come  about  only  through 


246    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

mutual  understanding,  the  development  of  good 
will,  and  the  spirit  of  mutual  helpfulness.  The  ad 
vanced  must  aid  the  belated  and  the  belated  must 
learn  of  the  advanced.  Industrial  competence  and 
social  and  political  integrity  and  efficiency  must  be 
developed  in  every  land.  Only  so  can  any  land 
become  fit,  under  the  stern  laws  of  nature,  to  survive 
and  succeed. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
ILLUSIONS-OCCIDENTAL  AND   ORIENTAL 

FEW  aspects  of  history  are  more  amazing  than 
the  illusions  that  have  dominated  mankind  for  ages. 
Witchcraft,  the  evil  eye,  hobgoblins  and  fairies, 
demons,  demoniacal  possession  and  countless  deities, 
grotesque  heavens  and  hells — unnumbered  "fixed 
ideas"  have  gripped  the  human  race  and  led  it  to 
all  kinds  of  conduct  which  now  appear  the  height 
of  folly.  Extraordinarily  gifted  with  powers  of  con 
structive  thought  and  imagination,  men  have  placed 
excessive  reliance  on  uncontrolled  subjectivism;  they 
have  ascribed  objective  validity  to  every  idea  or 
fancy  that  has  emerged  into  consciousness. 

The  age  of  emancipation,  however,  has  come. 
Men  are  discovering  that  mind  cannot  remain  a 
vacuum;  until  filled  with  knowledge  in  regard  to 
objects  which  attract  attention  and  demand  some 
kind  of  conduct,  the  mind  from  its  own  inner  sources 
supplies  suggestions,  guesses,  inferences  based  on  its 
own  fears,  ambitions,  and  desires.  Since  these  sub 
jective  constructions,  however,  do  not  correspond  to 
fact,  they  are  of  the  nature  of  illusions.  And  since, 
in  the  absence  of  knowledge,  they  seem  highly  plausi- 

247 


248    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

ble,  they  are  quickly  shared  by  millions  of  individu 
als,  and  the  belief  of  each  confirms  that  of  the  rest 
and  thus  they  seem  as  solid  as  the  earth  itself.  And 
this  leads  to  disastrous  national  and  race  conduct. 

Mankind  is  finding  the  corrective  value  of  accu 
rate  and  adequate  observation  and  rational  thought 
thereon — science  and  philosophy.  These  have  ban 
ished  countless  phantoms  of  past  ages  and  led  man 
kind  thus  far  on  his  way  to  an  accurate  knowledge 
of  the  world  he  lives  in  and  to  sane  and  wholesome 
life  therein. 

What,  then,  are  the  outstanding  illusions  which 
have  produced  the  Yellow  and  White  Perils? 

An  essential  element  in  all  statements  of  the  Yel 
low  Peril  is  the  assumption  that  all  Asia  will  unite 
in  a  single  compact  body  to  hurl  itself  in  ven 
geance  on  the  whites  and  force  open  the  doors  now 
closed  to  Asiatic  immigration. 

This  assumption  forgets  that  the  mutual  antipa 
thies  between  the  Asiatic  nations  are  as  intense  as 
those  between  European  peoples.  No  easy  under 
taking  would  it  be  to  unite  Russia,  England,  Ger 
many,  France,  Austria,  Italy,  Turkey,  and  Spain 
into  a  single  compact  group  fighting  under  a  single 
head.  Equally  difficult  would  it  be  to  effect  a  simi 
lar  union  among  the  undisciplined  and  uneducated 
provinces,  nations,  and  tribes  of  Asia.  The  only 
conceivable  condition  under  which  such  a  Pan- 
Asiatic  Alliance  could  arise  would  be  the  universal 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    249 

consciousness  of  a  common  foe.  Should  Europe  and 
America  form  an  actual  alliance  whose  avowed  end 
was,  or  was  believed  to  be,  the  military  subjugation  of 
all  Asia,  a  Pan- Asiatic  Alliance  might  possibly  arise. 
The  only  force  that  could  drive  together  those  antipa 
thetic  masses  would  be  such  a  movement  as  is  pro 
posed  by  the  Pan-Aryan  Association  and  the  wide 
knowledge  in  Asia  of  such  anti-Asiatic  speeches  as 
are  now  being  made  in  Christendom. 

Only  ignorance  of  the  actual  situation  in  Asia 
could  conceive  of  a  Pan-Asiatic  Alliance  as  arising 
independently  of  the  fear  of  overwhelming  Euro- 
American  invasion.  Fear,  then,  each  of  the  other's 
aggressive  military  invasion,  is  the  only  possible  con 
dition  under  which  the  nations  of  each  group  could 
be  forced  to  combine. 

The  white  man's  fear  of  the  military  Yellow  Peril 
entirely  overlooks  the  fact  that  all  east  Asiatics  from 
India  to  Japan  are  by  nature  peace-loving.  China 
and  India  have  been  subject  for  ages  to  alien  rulers 
for  lack  of  warlike  instincts.  Japan  alone  seems 
addicted  to  war;  yet  better  knowledge  discloses  her 
people  as  inherently  peace-loving.  Save  for  one 
short  period,  three  hundred  years  ago,  she  has  never 
wantonly  invaded  a  foreign  land.  Her  recent  war 
with  Russia  was  essentially  a  war  of  defence.  It 
would  never  have  been  undertaken  had  her  national 
existence  not  been  at  stake.  Japan  is  no  more 
addicted  to  war  than  France  or  Germany  or  even 


250    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

England.  The  late  date  to  which  her  feudal  system 
continued  is  not  to  be  misunderstood  as  due  to  fond 
ness  for  fighting.  Japan  herself  regards  the  last 
three  hundred  years  of  her  history  as  the  era  of  the 
"great  peace." 

Now,  is  it  conceivable  that  the  whole  East,  from 
India  to  Japan — where  for  centuries  the  spirit  of 
peace  has  ruled  to  such  an  extraordinary  degree  if 
compared  with  Europe  for  the  same  period — is  it 
conceivable  that  the  whole  East  is  about  to  develop 
a  violent,  aggressive  military  spirit,  threatening  the 
existence  even  of  the  mighty  nations  of  Europe  and 
America?  Is  not  this  an  amazing  occidental  illusion? 

Those,  moreover,  who  dread  the  impending  in 
vasions  of  Asiatics  little  appreciate  the  changed  con 
ditions  of  warfare  produced  by  modern  civilization. 
They  think  it  still  possible  for  Asiatics  to  swarm 
across  the  seas  and  overrun  the  continents  as  in  the 
days  of  the  Huns  and  Tartars,  Goths,  Teutons, 
Norsemen,  and  Normans;  or  even  as  Spain  and 
Portugual  swept  Central  and  South  America  or  as 
Napoleon  vanquished  Europe.  They  forget  that  we 
are  living  in  a  new  era.  Our  life  has  changed  so  fast 
in  the  past  fifty  years  that  there  is  some  excuse,  no 
doubt,  for  still  thinking  in  terms  of  mediae valism. 
This  is  true  for  the  masses  in  many  directions,  espe 
cially  in  philosophy  and  theology.  Is  not  this  the 
real  reason  why  the  Yellow  Peril  appeal  sounds  so 
plausible?  It  is,  nevertheless,  a  great  illusion. 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    251 

No  longer  can  armies  and  navies  live  off  the  coun 
try  they  ravage.  They  must  be  continuously  sup- 
lied  from  their  base.  The  mechanics  of  warfare  are 
so  enormous  and  intricate  that  only  extraordinary 
genius  and  industry  can  even  maintain  existence  to 
say  nothing  about  success.  For  an  army  thus  con 
stituted  to  sweep  across  a  continent  two,  three,  or 
four  thousand  miles  broad,  as  did  the  Huns  and 
Tartars,  is  simply  impossible.  Should  Asiatics  at 
tempt  to  swarm  over  Siberia  into  Russia  and  Europe, 
as  did  their  predecessors  of  old,  a  few  Maxim  guns 
would  summarily  annihilate  them. 

Similarly  in  regard  to  invasion  by  sea.  California 
has  been  trembling  at  her  helplessness  should  Japan 
attack  her.  Mr.  Homer  Lea,  in  his  "Valour  of  Igno-  v 
ranee,"  has  pictured  how  Japan  could  easily  capture 
the  entire  Pacific  coast.  Honorable  Albert  Johnson 
thinks  Alaska  in  imminent  peril  and  that  it  may 
be  utilized  as  a  base  for  the  seizure  of  California  and 
other  States  bordering  on  the  Pacific.  Even  a  little 
knowledge  of  actual  conditions  of  modern  naval  war 
fare  shows,  however,  that  these  fears  are  groundless. 

The  periodic  Yellow  Peril  scare  pictures  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  Asiatics  swarming  in  their  ships 
across  the  seas.  But  how  many  ships  would  be 
needed  to  transport  them? 

To  fight  the  Boers,  England,  with  absolutely  undis 
puted  possession  of  the  sea  and  having  the  largest 
mercantile  marine  in  the  world  at  her  disposal,  spent 


252    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

nine  months  in  transporting  to  South  Africa,  from 
England,  India,  and  Australia,  199,655  men  and  their 
equipment,  with  81,751  horses  and  mules.  This 
required  three  hundred  and  fifty-one  outward  voy 
ages. 

American  naval  authorities,  estimating  their  need 
for  transportation  facilities  in  case  of  oversea  con 
flicts,  state  that  "a  single  army  unit,  consisting  of  a 
division  with  nine  infantry  regiments,  one  cavalry 
regiment,  three  artillery  battalions,  one  engineer  bat 
talion,  and  one  company  of  signal-corps,  with  the 
necessary  hospital,  ammunition,  and  supply  wagons, 
would  require  for  its  transportation  ten  6,500-ton  and 
nine  5,500-ton  transports." 

Now,  how  many  men  are  included  in  this  reckon 
ing?  only  12,500!  To  transport  100,000  men  and 
their  needed  equipment,  to  say  nothing  of  food  and 
ammunition  for  a  campaign,  would  require  one 
hundred  and  fifty-two  seagoing  transports,  aggre 
gating  916,000  tons.  On  the  sea,  sailing  five  abreast, 
one  thousand  feet  apart,  this  fleet  would  make  a 
column  a  mile  wide  and  six  miles  long.  At  night 
or  during  stormy  weather  they  would  need  two  or 
three  times  as  much  space. 

And  how  large  a  fleet  of  dreadnoughts,  armored 
cruisers,  torpedo-boats,  etc.,  etc.,  would  be  needed  to 
protect  these  transports.  Only  an  expert  can  say. 

But  for  such  a  fleet  to  cross  the  Pacific  and  attack 
a  hostile  land  which  knows  of  its  coming  and  which 


\ 

ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    253 

possesses  its  own  dreadnoughts,  cruisers,  torpedo- 
boats,  and  flying-machines  would  be  the  wildest  folly. 
It  would  soon  be  in  the  condition  of  Rozdestven- 
sky's  famous  Armada  when  it  met  the  Japanese. 

In  these  days,  for  a  transoceanic  military  invasion, 
the  invading  force  should  first  clear  the  sea  and  air 
of  foes.  Only  then  could  it  possibly  cross  over  and 
effect  a  landing. 

Should  Asiatics  invent  new  methods  of  warfare, 
or  weapons  distinctly  superior  to  those  we  now  have, 
we  might  conceive  of  a  successful  invasion  of  Amer 
ica,  but  not  otherwise.  To  think  it  possible  under 
present  conditions  is  illusion.  The  extent  and  per 
sistence  of  the  Yellow  Peril  scare  prove  how  wide 
spread  the  mediaeval  conception  of  war  still  is. 

A  specific  case  of  the  Yellow  Peril  illusion  is 
Captain  Hobson's  and  Homer  Lea's  Japanese-inva 
sion  hallucination. 

Japan's  navy  might,  conceivably,  seize  Honolulu 
and,  after  demolishing  our  navy  (!),  shell  San  Fran 
cisco,  Seattle,  and  Los  Angeles.  But  these  are  un 
fortified  cities,  and  Japan  would  surely  follow  the 
laws  of  modern  warfare  in  regard  to  non-combatants. 

Not  until  Japan  had  cleared  the  entire  Pacific  of 
America's  dreadnoughts  and  aeroplanes  could  she 
venture  on  the  transportation  of  her  army.  But 
what  are  her  facilities  for  transportation?  For  ocean 
service,  the  number  of  her  transports  of  5,000  tons  or 
over  is  only  thirty-two;  she  has  two  hundred  and 


254    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

sixty-nine  boats  of  from  500  to  2;000  tons  and  one 
hundred  and  seventy-six  boats  of  from  2,000  to 
5,000  tons.  Japan's  ocean  transportation,  accord 
ingly,  is  probably  insufficient  to  carry  at  one  voyage 
from  Japan  to  America  a  single  army  division!  The 
trip  to  San  Francisco  would  occupy  not  less  than 
from  four  to  six  weeks. 

From  the  psychological  standpoint,  however,  a 
Japanese  invasion  is  still  more  unthinkable. 

What  would  be  Japan's  motive — to  force  Asiatic 
immigration  upon  us  and  compel  us  to  grant  citizen 
ship  rights  to  Japanese?  What  profit  would  that 
be  to  Japan?  Some  few  Japanese  individuals  might 
be  the  gainers,  but  the  nation  would  have  an  enor 
mously  increased  debt  and  still  heavier  war  taxes 
to  pay!  Moreover,  Japan  does  not  want  her  able- 
bodied  and  enterprising  young  people  to  emigrate 
in  large  numbers  to  foreign  lands.  She  needs  them 
for  her  own  development  and  for  national  defence. 

Could  the  seizure  of  the  Pacific  coast  and  owner 
ship  of  its  vast  agricultural  and  mineral  resources  be 
a  motive?  Were  Indians  still,  as  of  old,  the  only  in 
habitants,  that  might  be  a  conceivable  motive.  But 
to  take  possession  of  it  now,  with  its  large  cities  and 
aggressive,  resourceful  population  of  millions,  would 
entail  a  prolonged  war  and  incalculable  expense. 
The  subjugation  of  Formosa  she  has  found  to  be  a 
most  difficult  task,  and  it  is  not  complete  yet  after 
nearly  twenty  years  of  possession.  Such  consider- 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    255 

ations  as  these  would  effectually  inhibit  a  war  with 
America  for  territorial  aggression. 

The  cost  of  war  with  America  would  consist  not 
only  of  the  sums  positively  expended  but  also  of  the 
failure  of  receipts  from  her  usual  trade.  America  is 
by  far  Japan's  best  customer.  Her  entire  indus 
trial  system  and  the  prosperity  of  hundreds  of  thou 
sands — nay,  millions — of  her  people  depend  on  com 
mercial  relations  with  America.  To  begin  war  with 
the  United  States  would  at  once  paralyze  entire 
industries,  throw  into  disorder  her  whole  economic 
organization,  and  reduce  a  considerable  proportion 
of  her  people  to  the  point  of  starvation. 

Nor  is  this  all.  In  order  to  make  the  first  move  in 
so  vast  an  undertaking,  Japan  would  have  to  borrow 
hundreds  of  millions,  even  a  billion  or  more  dollars 
for  the  purchase  of  war  material;  for  war  with 
America  would  be  vastly  more  expensive  than  was 
her  late  war  with  Russia.  Who  would  lend  her  the 
money?  For  special  reasons  she  was  then  able  to 
borrow  from  England  and  America.  Who  would 
befriend  her  now?  Would  England  or  Russia  or 
Germany  or  France?  From  the  economic  standpoint 
alone,  therefore,  Hobson's  hallucination  is  a  craft 
much  lighter  than  air. 

Russia,  moreover,  stands  at  Japan's  back  door. 
Would  she  hesitate  to  take  advantage  of  Japan's 
preoccupation  to  settle  up  old  scores  and  retake 
southern  Manchuria,  Port  Arthur,  and  Korea? 


256    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

No,  Alaska  and  California,  Honolulu  and  even 
the  Philippines  are  perfectly  safe.  Not  a  mile  of 
railroad  nor  a  single  fortress  is  needed.  Even  the 
fortifications  of  Honolulu  are  superfluous.  The  real 
safety  of  these  regions  rests  entirely  on  their  organic 
relation  to  the  United  States.  The  whole  American 
nation  stands  back  of  them;  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
cover  them. 

Japan,  on  the  other  hand,  needs  the  friendship  of 
America.  No  interests  of  her  immigrants  in  Cali 
fornia,  no  desire's  to  acquire  the  rights  of  Amer 
ican  citizenship,  and  no  needs  even  for  territorial 
expansion  could  possibly  be  a  sufficient  motive 
for  war  with  both  the  United  States  and  Russia 
together. 

Hobson's  hallucination  is,  in  truth,  ludicrous,  more 
preposterous  by  far  than  the  periodic  war  scares  of 
Germany  and  England.  It  rests  on  complete  failure 
to  appreciate  the  actual  situation  in  Japan  and  what 
an  attempted  Japanese  invasion  of  America  would 
mean. 

The  Yellow  Peril  illusion  assumes  that  when  Asiatic 
population  becomes  too  large  for  the  means  of  sup 
port  and  Asiatics  learn  of  relatively  unoccupied  ter 
ritories  in  possession  of  white  races  they  will  organ 
ize  enormous  military  expeditions  with  which  to 
batter  down  the  white  walls  of  exclusion. 

Several  considerations  render  this  assumption  in 
credible.  Nations  never  have  fought  and,  it  is  safe 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    257 

to  say,  never  will  fight  for  privileges  of  emigration 
for  their  own  laboring  classes;  rather  they  wish  to 
keep  them  at  home.  Nations  fight  for  sovereignty, 
for  honor,  for  territory,  or  in  self-defence.  But 
merely  to  give  citizens  opportunity  for  expatriation 
is  an  inconceivable  motive  for  ocean- wide  warfare. 
The  marauding  Huns  and  Tartars  were  not  armies 
fighting  for  national  privileges,  but  consisted  of  the 
emigrants  themselves  who,  taking  their  all  with  them, 
sought  new  lands,  in  which  to  live.  We  cannot  con 
ceive  of  hordes  of  Asiatic  emigrants  forcing  their  way 
to-day  by  military  superiority  into  America,  Aus 
tralia,  Africa,  or  New  Zealand.  The  world-situation 
does  not  allow  it.  This  age  provides,  indeed,  for 
enormous  peaceful  migrations,  but  military  migra 
tions  of  large  populations  are  no  longer  possible. 

Moreover,  the  assumption  implies  that  Asiatic 
population  will  multiply  indefinitely  and  produce  a 
virile  stock  well  able  to  fight  regardless  of  food  sup 
ply.  This  implication,  however,  is  a  palpable  error. 
If  population  expands  beyond  food  supply,  the  pop 
ulation  will  be  constantly  subject  to  famine  and 
disease,  rendering  it  unfit  for  war  physically  and  un 
able  economically. 

Again,  as  advanced  standards  of  life  become  gen 
eral  in  Asia  and  as  occidental  science  gains  wide  fol 
lowing,  will  they  not  have  the  same  effect  in  checking 
excessive  population  as  they  have  had  in  the  West? 
The  hallucination,  accordingly,  of  an  overwhelming 


258    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

Asiatic  immigration  forced  upon  us  by  military  and 
naval  conquest  rests  upon  many  highly  improbable 
assumptions. 


CHAPTER  XV 

ILLUSIONS-OCCIDENTAL   AND   ORIENTAL 

(CONTINUED) 

THE  Yellow  Peril  illusion  ever  assumes  that  Asia 
is  soon  to  acquire  the  entire  industrial  and  mechan 
ical  skill  of  Christendom,  and  that  then  she  will  be 
able  to  overthrow  the  white  man.  This  assumption 
fails  to  recognize  important  considerations. 

In  the  first  place,  Europe  and  America  are  but  at 
the  beginning  of  their  industrial  development.  While 
Asia  is  painfully  learning  what  we  now  are  doing, 
we  shall  be  advancing  by  leaps  and  bounds  to  new 
attainments.  Is  it  conceivable  that  white  brains 
have  reached  the  limit  of  their  capacity — that  West 
ern  civilization  has  no  progress  before  it?  On  the 
contrary,  has  not  man's  mastery  of  nature's  secrets 
and  forces  only  begun?  And  are  not  the  white  races 
decades  ahead  of  all  others?  Is  there  a  particle  of 
danger  of  our  losing  our  lead  in  this  matter? 

If  Asiatics  can  excel  in  our  own  special  field,  can 
explore  the  inner  processes  of  nature,  utilize  them 
more  speedily  and  effectively  than  we,  then,  indeed, 
shall  we  be  forced  to  admit  their  superiority,  and 
sooner  or  later  we  must  yield  submission.  The  real 

259 


260    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

basis  of  white — nay,  of  Teutonic — supremacy  lies 
not  in  the  machinery  of  civilization  but  rather  in  the 
brain  that  invents  the  machinery  and  in  the  moral 
character  that  makes  possible  the  social  organism 
that  utilizes  the  machinery.  Not  the  gun  nor  the 
man  behind  the  gun,  but  the  man  who  invents  not 
only  the  gun  but  all  the  tools  and  organization  of 
civilization  is  what  really  counts. 

But  even  in  the  matter  of  Asiatic  acquisition  of 
occidental  civilization  there  is  far  more  difficulty 
than  is  ordinarily  supposed.  Every  one  of  our  mul 
titudinous  arts  and  industries  depends  on  workmen 
of  specialized  skill  whose  "trick"  is  passed  on  from 
foreman  to  journeyman,  from  man  to  man,  by  per 
sonal  instruction.  The  essence  of  a  civilization  lies 
not  in  its  tools  and  instruments  but  in  the  specialized 
brains  and  muscles  and  hearts  of  the  men  who  make 
and  use  them. 

To  this  fact  is  due  the  enormous  and  quite  unrec 
ognized  difficulty  in  the  acquisition  by  one  people  of 
the  civilization  of  another.  A  boy  does  not  learn  to 
swim  by  standing  on  the  shore  and  merely  watching 
another  boy  swim.  No  one  could  ever  learn  to  make 
a  good  watch  merely  by  watching  the  process. 
Japan  is  to-day  experiencing  this  fact  with  keen  dis 
appointment.  She  has  accomplished  much  in  many 
lines — much  less,  however,  than  those  think  who 
quake  before  the  Yellow  Peril  spectre.  She  has  imi 
tated  all  kinds  of  manufactures;  because  of  her  cheap 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    261 

labor  she  expected  to  take  over  our  industries;  she 
has  tried  and  has  failed.  Somehow  the  "knack" 
which  lurks  in  the  brains  and  muscles  of  our  skilled 
workmen  is  not  so  easily  acquired.  Asiatics  may 
get  our  machinery  and  even  imitate  our  wares,  but 
these  wares  lack  the  quality.  How  often  the  Japanese 
themselves  have  remarked  on  this  fact!  Cheap  Asi 
atic  labor  is,  in  truth,  expensive  because  so  inefficient 
when  applied  to  occidental  civilization. 

This  principle  is  well  illustrated  by  the  lost  arts. 
In  Japan  the  making  of  swords  was  carried  on  from 
generation  to  generation  in  families  who  became  fa 
mous.  Those  families  passed  away  and  with  them 
their  skill.  The  swords  remain,  and  written  accounts 
of  how  they  were  made,  but  the  secret  has  been 
lost. 

Were  every  watchmaker  in  Christendom  suddenly 
to  die,  even  with  the  watches  as  models,  how  many 
decades  would  elapse  before  a  fresh  attainment  of 
technical  skill  would  enable  new  experts  to  do  what 
many  apprentices  now  easily  accomplish? 

The  point  of  this  argument  is  that  Asiatic  acqui 
sition  of  occidental  civilization  is  no  such  easy  or 
speedy  matter  as  the  Yellow  Peril  illusion  assumes. 
So  much  of  our  civilization  as  they  do  acquire  will 
constitute  no  serious  menace  to  Christendom. 

The  Yellow  Peril  illusion  assumes  that  the  white 
man's  supremacy  arose  from  and  can  be  maintained 
by  war.  One  aspect  of  this  error  has  already  been 


262    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

discussed.  In  the  final  analysis,  it  is  the  white  man's 
inventive  brain  and  his  moral  and  social  capacity  to 
use  his  inventions  that  have  given  him  in  the  past, 
and  will  continue  to  give  him  in  the  future,  world 
wide  leadership.  The  essential  characteristic  of  his 
civilization  is  not  its  material  and  mechanical  as 
pects,  though  these  are  the  most  conspicuous,  but 
rather  its  social  and  spiritual  elements.  Now,  his 
inventive  brain  has  been  as  active  in  the  latter  realm 
as  in  the  former.  His  modern  social  machinery  is 
by  far  the  more  important  in  assuring  his  continued 
leadership,  and  it  is  also  the  more  difficult  of  acquisi 
tion  by  other  races. 

But  another  aspect  needs  attention.  The  white 
man  is  a  wonderful  traveller,  colonizer,  producer, 
inventor,  and  trader.  He  has  gotten  into  wars  with 
alien  races  through  his  proclivities  in  one  or  more  of 
these  lines;  he  has  been  able  to  conquer  in  war  be 
cause  he  has  invented  the  best  fighting  machinery. 
But  he  maintains  his  leadership  through  his  relative 
industrial  and  economic  efficiency.  Warfare  has 
been  and  still  is  only  a  minor  element  in  the  white 
man's  world-wide  success. 

The  final  contest  between  the  races  will  be  eco 
nomic  and  industrial.  The  more  the  white  man 
expends  on  armaments  and  like  unproductive  enter 
prises,  to  the  neglect  of  other  elements  of  his  devel 
opment,  the  more  will  he  cripple  himself.  If  each 
country  of  Christendom  should  abandon  its  army  and 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND   ORIENTAL    263 

navy  and  for  thirty  years  devote  to  the  economic 
and  industrial  education  of  its  people  what  it  now 
expends  of  money  and  brains  for  military  purposes, 
the  development  and  prosperity  of  Christendom 
would  advance  by  leaps  and  bounds  and  render 
absurd  all  fear  of  ruinous  Asiatic  competition. 

The  final  test,  then,  of  the  supremacy  of  a  people 
lies  in  other  realms  than  those  of  battle.  Germany 
is  prosperous  in  spite  of  her  armaments.  Turkey 
has  collapsed  because  she  depended  on  them  alone. 

With  regard,  also,  to  economic  competition  the 
Yellow  Peril  agitation  is  fallacious.  It  asserts  that 
on  account  of  the  cheapness  of  labor  in  Asia  it  will 
not  be  long  before  she  will  produce  all  our  manu 
factured  goods  at  far  less  cost  than  we  can  our 
selves,  and  that,  therefore,  while  we  and  all  Europe 
will  purchase  from  her,  we  shall  have  nothing  to  sell 
her.  Our  working  classes  will  thus  be  thrown  out  of 
employment  and  our  industries  will  be  completely 
ruined. 

This  argument,  however,  rests  on  serious  economic 
fallacies.  Asia  may  indeed  in  time  be  able  to  produce 
even  large  varieties  of  manufactured  goods  more 
cheaply  than  we  can  and  we  shall,  therefore,  purchase 
them  from  her  rather  than  continue  to  manufacture 
them  ourselves.  No  doubt  this  will  produce  difficulty 
and  require  adjustment.  But  it  is  not  to  be  for 
gotten  that  we  shall  never  be  able  to  purchase  from 
China  at  all  unless,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  she 


264    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

purchases  from  us.  International  commerce  can  go 
forward  only  as  there  is  mutual  give  and  take,  and 
in  the  long  run  it  must  be  mutually  advantageous. 
China  can  sell  to  us  only  so  much  as  she  buys  from 
us — directly  or  indirectly.  In  other  words,  only  as 
we  mutually  adjust  our  various  industries  in  ways 
mutually  advantageous  can  commerce  grow;  and  it 
cannot  grow  so  as  really  and  finally  to  injure  either 
us  or  them.  These  changes,  moreover,  will  occur 
slowly — very  slowly. 

Each  part  of  the  world  and  each  section  of  each 
country  will  gradually  find  its  normal  place  in  the 
economic  world-system  and  be  able  to  do  the  work 
and  produce  the  wares  best  suited  to  its  nature  and 
location  and  thus  contribute  its  best  to  the  life  of 
the  world. 

Asiatic  industrial  competition,  therefore,  does  not 
mean  the  ruin  of  the  West;  it  means  rather,  on  the 
whole,  its  more  profitable  occupation.  Of  course 
periods  of  adjustment  in  industrial  relations  are 
periods  of  turmoil,  of  storm  and  stress,  and  many  in 
dividuals  suffer,  especially  among  workers.  The  in 
troduction  of  machinery  is  a  well-known  cause  of  such 
adjustments  and  also  of  such  pain  and  poverty  and 
progress.  Think  not,  however,  that  in  the  coming 
adjustment,  the  West  alone  is  to  suffer.  What  Japan 
has  endured  in  adjusting  her  life  and  organization 
to  the  new  world-situation  few  Occidentals  realize, 
and  China  is  now  starting  on  the  same  road.  The 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    265 

sooner  the  West  begins  to  adapt  herself  to  the  life 
of  the  whole  world;  and  the  more  gradually  that  ad 
justment  is  made,  the  less  will  be  the  shock  of  the 
change  and  the  pain  of  the  process. 

Among  the  illusions  regarding  Asiatics  is  that 
which  dogmatically  affirms  their  non-assimilability. 
This  illusion  as  related  to  Japanese  has  been  so  fully 
considered  in  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  work  that 
its  brief  mention  here  will  suffice.  It  assigns  to 
Asiatic  nature  a  texture  and  a  character  which  do 
not  correspond  to  the  objective  world.  It,  of  course, 
professes  to  rest  on  experience.  But  the  experience 
to  which  it  appeals  is  an  experience  with  groups  of 
Chinese  and  Japanese  whose  presence  among  us  is 
resented;  the  treatment  accorded  them  has  been 
exactly  of  the  kind  to  prevent  their  assimilation. 
Under  like  conditions  Europeans  would  be  equally 
unassimilable. 

Admiral  Mahan  cites  in  support  of  his  view  the 
Austrian  Empire,  the  French  Canadians,  and  South 
African  Boers.  He  forgets,  however,  that  in  each  of 
these  cases,  as  in  nearly  every  ancient  land,  the  polit 
ical  arrangements  provided  for  the  rule  of  one  race 
over  others,  which  gave  scope  thus  for  antagonistic 
race  ambitions  and  involved  resentments  and  indig 
nation.  Such  conditions,  however,  are  just  the  ones 
to  prevent  assimilation.  Should  equality  of  educa 
tional  and  political  opportunity  be  given  to  every  in 
dividual,  entirely  upon  personal  qualification  regard- 


266    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

less  of  race,  and  should  the  use  of  a  common  language 
be  secured  in  the  countries  cited,  even  yet  social  as 
similation  would  in  time  be  secured.  Should  Asiatics 
be  allowed  to  enter  America  in  considerable  numbers 
and  then  forced  by  differential  legislation  or  social 
ostracism  to  live  in  communities  where  they  would 
maintain  their  own  languages  and  race  feeling;  and 
should  they  also  by  exclusion  from  the  franchise  be 
in  political  subjection,  becoming  helpless  objects  of 
small  politicians,  the  evils  Admiral  Mahan  antici 
pates  would  doubtless  arise.  But  if  the  conditions  of 
admission  and  of  life  here  should  be  those  suggested 
in  the  last  chapter,  those  evils  would  not  arise. 
Social  assimilation  is  a  matter  of  social  and  political 
conditions,  not  one  of  race  nature.  Thorough-going 
democracy,  consistently  carried  out,  furnishes  the 
very  best  conditions  for  the  assimilation  of  races. 

The  doctrine  of  Asiatic  non-assimilability,  there 
fore,  is  one  of  the  illusions  which  helps  to  prevent 
their  assimilation  and  interferes,  accordingly,  with 
the  right  relations  and  mutual  approach  of  the  white 
and  yellow  races. 

The  assertion  that  the  union  of  the  four  great  gun- 
producing  and  machine-making  nations  would  auto 
matically  secure  universal  peace  and  a  reduction  of 
armaments  and  military  expenditures  is  not  self- 
evident.  If,  as  is  vehemently  asserted,  Asia  will  be 
able  to  produce  and  support  more  ships  by  far  and 
more  soldiers  by  the  million  than  united  Europe,  it 


II 

II 


II 


=  1 

£  2 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    267 

is  not  clear  how  the  four-nation  alliance  would  attain 
its  end. 

On  the  contrary,  is  it  not  clear  that  an  occidental 
Pan-Aryan  Alliance  is  exactly  the  kind  of  pro 
gramme  that  will  call  into  actual  existence  an  ori 
ental  Pan-Aryan  Alliance  headed  by  Japan,  as  pro 
posed  by  Mr.  Dharmapala?  Only  the  fear  in  Asia 
of  an  impending  attack  from  some  great  foe,  able  to 
crush  each  Asiatic  nation  separately  and  intending 
to  do  so,  can  possibly  force  the  many  opposing  Asiatic 
peoples  into  an  effective  union.  An  actual  occi 
dental  Pan- Aryan  Alliance  would  give  strong  ground 
in  Asia  for  such  a  fear  and  for  a  corresponding  ori 
ental  Alliance. 

Moreover,  were  the  occidental  Pan-Aryan  Alli 
ance  actually  to  come  into  being,  it  would,  of  course, 
seek  to  justify  its  existence.  What  more  likely  than 
that  it  would,  by  way  of  precautions  for  peace,  insist 
that  Asiatics  should  not  have  large  armaments  and 
should  not  raise  and  drill  large  armies?  In  a  word, 
the  Occident  would  undertake  to  control  by  force 
the  development  of  the  Orient. 

But  it  would  surely  thereby  produce  an  intensity 
of  interracial  antipathy,  the  only  conceivable  result 
of  which  would  be  the  very  thing  it  was  intended  to 
prevent — interracial  war. 

A  Pan-Aryan  Alliance,  therefore,  whether  occi 
dental  or  oriental,  whose  object  was  race  suprem 
acy,  would  provoke  both  ill  will  and  fear,  and 


268    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

would  tend  to  universal  war  rather  than  to  universal 
peace. 

The  argument  advanced  by  Representatives  John 
son  and  Smith  in  favor  of  the  proposed  "quadrilat 
eral'7  alliance  is  specious  but  thoroughly  fallacious. 
They  say  that,  historically  speaking,  the  areas  of 
peace  have  come  into  being  and  exist  to-day  through 
the  development  of  single  powerful  executives,  able 
to  quell  all  prospective  local  resistance  within  their 
respective  areas.  Is  this  true?  Is  peace  in  America, 
for  instance,  finally  due  to  the  powerful  American 
army?  Is  peace  not  due  rather  to  the  consent  of 
the  ruled  to  the  methods,  principles,  and  spirit  of 
the  government?  Is  this  not  also  true  of  every 
nation  where  peace  prevails? 

But  in  another  respect  also  is  the  argument  falla 
cious.  If  the  four  great  nations  of  Christendom  unite 
— so  the  argument  runs — they  will  be  able  to  enforce 
peace  throughout  the  world.  Here  is  a  clear  non 
sequitur.  The  argument  promised  peace  within  the 
territory  of  the  single  central  executive;  this  assertion 
promises  peace  also  without  that  territory!  The 
argument  did  not  prepare  us  for  this  conclusion. 
The  "quadrilateral"  alliance  then  is  to  absorb  each 
nation  that  begins  war  and  bring  it  within  the  area 
where  peace  is  enforced! 

To  prevent  war,  then,  between  yellows  and  whites 
the  alliance  will  have  to  absorb  all  Asia,  bringing  it 
thus  within  the  "peace  area."  Only  so  would  the 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    269 

proposition  be  effective.  Now  is  it  conceivable  that 
with  such  a  programme,  the  armament  of  the  occi 
dental  Pan- Aryan  Alliance  will  grow  less,  as  the  san 
guine  promoters  of  the  plan  assert?  Will  not  the 
reverse  be  the  case? 

Do  not  Asiatics  also  harbor  illusions  concerning 
the  White  Peril?  Beyond  question.  They  doubtless 
regard  it  as  increasing.  They  see  exclusion  walls 
rising  around  them  and  increasing  antagonism  de 
veloping  in  all  white  lands.  They  keenly  realize, 
moreover,  how  pitiable  is  their  own  plight  and  how 
helpless  they  are  in  the  face  of  the  amazing  growth 
of  the  white  man's  power  and  civilization.  In  all 
this  they  naturally  see  the  White  Peril  increasing. 

Important  forces,  however,  are  working  on  the 
other  side,  which  Asiatics  cannot  easily  see.  The 
White  Peril  has,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  passed  its 
maximum  virulence.  Not  only  has  the  new  world- 
situation  arisen,  which  tends  powerfully  to  curb  terri 
torial  and  inhuman  aggression,  but  within  Christen 
dom  itself  commerical  and  spiritual  forces  are  at 
work  that  promise  much  for  the  future. 

The  spirit  of  justice  toward  weaker  peoples  has 
gradually  been  growing.  It  has  already  restrained 
in  important  ways  the  white  man's  treatment  of 
natives  in  the  lands  to  which  he  has  gone.  While 
America  has  been  far  from  guiltless,  yet,  all  in  all, 
her  treatment  of  Indians,  Negroes,  Hawaiians,  and 
Filipinos  constitutes  a  bright  page  in  the  history  of 


270    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

nations.  British  rule,  likewise,  though  by  no  means 
free  from  crime — and  many  a  crime  has  been  serious, 
indeed — yet,  on  the  whole,  has  much  to  its  credit. 
And  British  methods  are  increasingly  considerate  of 
the  rights  and  advantages  of  native  races.  India 
and  Egypt  she  may  cite  with  just  pride.  Such  wan 
ton  and  murderous  aggression  for  greed  of  gold 
as  befell  Mexico  and  Peru  at  the  hands  of  white 
men  would  not  be  tolerated  by  the  modern  public 
opinion  of  Christendom.  Belgian  atrocities  in  the 
Congo  and  similar  deeds  by  British  rubber  companies 
in  South  America  have  aroused  the  conscience  of 
Christendom.  Such  things  can  no  longer  be  done 
openly. 

International  commerce  is  leading  the  nations  and 
races  into  better  political  relations.  White  men  are 
learning  that  legitimate  trade  brings  more  gold  than 
marauding  expeditions.  Commerce  demands  both 
steady  political  conditions  and  a  people  relatively 
developed  in  civilization.  Efforts  for  the  moral, 
social,  educational,  and  political  development  of 
even  savages  are  found  to  be  the  best  way  to 
make  them  industrially  and  commercially  profitable. 
White  governments,  accordingly,  are  devoting  their 
thought  to  these  matters,  diminishing  thus  the  evils 
of  their  occupancy.  Not  only  America  and  England 
but  even  Germany  and  France  are  beginning  to 
realize  these  principles. 

In  times  of  calamity  the  essential  good-will  of 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    271 

Christendom  has  been  repeatedly  shown  in  recent 
decades  by  contributions  of  money  and  other  help 
given  to  China  and  India  and  Turkey.  Such 
deeds — unknown  between  nations  in  any  previous 
age — show  that  we  are  advancing,  that  white  inhu 
manity  is  decreasing. 

The  modern  peace  movement  proclaims  the  same 
message.  This  looks  primarily,  of  course,  to  peace 
between  the  nations  of  Europe.  But  acquaintance 
with  the  literature  of  the  movement  shows  that  uni 
versal  justice  and  good- will  are  insistently  pro 
claimed  and  that  the  rights  of  weaker  nations  and 
peoples  are  provided  for.  Advocates  of  peace  are  not 
seeking  race  supremacy,  but  interracial  and  inter 
national  justice  and  amity.  The  whole  movement 
powerfully  restrains  race  aggression  and  thus  dimin 
ishes  the  White  Peril.  Mr.  Carnegie's  peace  foun 
dation  endowment  of  ten  million  dollars  is  the  larg 
est  single  gift  for  this  cause,  but  immense  sums  are 
annually  expended  and  many  men  of  international 
reputation  are  devoting  time  and  thought  for  the 
promotion  of  this  movement. 

The  foreign-missionary  enterprise  of  Christendom 
is  doubtless  the  most  significant  single  movement  of 
interracial  good- will.  Ignorant  and  unfriendly  eyes 
may  regard  the  movement  as  one  of  proselyting 
ambition,  sectarian  pride,  and  religious  fanaticism. 
From  the  standpoint  of  non-Christian  faiths,  the 
Christian  propaganda  may,  indeed,  be  regarded  as 


272    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

one  powerful  factor  in  the  White  Peril.  It  is,  never 
theless,  an  expression  of  interracial  good-will  on  the 
part  of  white  nations.  It  seeks  from  motives  wholly 
disinterested  to  give  to  other  races  the  best  elements 
of  the  civilization  of  Christendom.  The  missionary 
is  a  strong  force  counteracting  the  political  and  com 
mercial  White  Peril  in  every  part  of  the  earth. 
In  every  land  the  missionary  has  been  the  friend  of 
the  colored  man,  protecting  him  from  the  greed  and 
aggression  of  white  traders  and  rulers. 

The  strength  of  this  movement  may  be  estimated 
from  the  fact  that  the  number  of  Protestant  mis 
sionaries  is  over  sixteen  thousand  and  the  gifts  for  the 
cause  amounted,  in  1913,  to  about  twenty-five  million 
dollars.  This  goes  to  the  colored  races. 

The  missionary  movement,  moreover,  interprets 
to  white  men  in  their  homelands  the  better  side  of 
the  tribes  and  peoples  to  whom  the  missionaries  go 
and  serves  thereby  as  an  invaluable  link  of  sympa 
thetic  understanding.  The  missionary  movement  is 
the  great  race-interpreting  and  race-reconciling  force 
of  modern  times. 

But  the  White  Peril  is  on  the  wane  for  another 
reason.  The  Asiatic — especially  the  Japanese — has 
learned,  as  already  stated,  that  the  white  man  is 
not  a  mere  peril  to  be  shunned  but  also  a  possible 
teacher.  Acquisition  of  that  which  the  white  man 
knows  and  adoption  of  elements  of  his  civilization 
bring  many  advantages.  Life  is  enriched.  New 


ILLUSIONS— OCCIDENTAL  AND  ORIENTAL    273 

vistas  of  growth  are  gained.  The  feared  White  Peril 
is  thus  overcome  and  from  the  heart  of  the  peril  rich 
fruit  is  gathered.  Japan  has  learned  this  lesson  well. 
China  is  starting  on  the  same  road. 

Many  considerations  thus  show  that  the  White 
Peril  is  actually  passing.  Asiatics  who  think  other 
wise  not  only  are  under  an  illusion,  but  because  of 
the  illusion  they  help  to  prolong  the  evil.  Scorn  for 
the  white  man  and  refusal  to  learn  of  him  prevent 
mutual  acquaintance  and  adjustment.  These  con 
stitute,  however,  the  secret  of  the  transformation  of 
both  White  and  Yellow  Perils  into  possibilities  of 
great  gain. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

•* 

THE  REAL  YELLOW  PERIL 

Is  there,  then,  no  Yellow  Peril?  If  the  argument 
of  preceding  chapters  is  valid,  does  it  make  any  im 
portant  difference  how  we  treat  Asiatics  within  our 
borders  or  whether  we  build  high  walls  of  exclusion? 

Most  assuredly  there  is  peril  in  the  contact  of 
East  and  West.  It  makes  a  vast  difference  both  to 
us  and  to  them  what  our  attitude  and  treatment  are. 
The  loss  to  California  and  to  the  entire  United 
States  through  radical  an ti- Asiatic  policy  wiU.^be 
none  the  less  real  though  it  may  not  take  the  forms 
anticipated  by  hysterical  publicists  and  politicians. 

Ill  will,  scorn,  injustice,  brutality  are  of  them 
selves  serious  evils.  The  entire  manhood  of  those 
possessed  by  such  a  spirit  is  degraded.  Now,  a  rad 
ical  Asiatic  exclusion  policy  will  not  only  maintain 
this  spirit  but  promote  it  on  both  sides  of  the  Pacific, 
for  it  will  keep  the  races  apart  and  prevent  mutual 
acquaintance  and  adjustment. 

A  recent  number  of  the  Vancouver  Saturday  Sun 
set  voices  the  antipathy  of  many  toward  Asiatics 
and  well  illustrates  the  evil  referred  to.  The  Aryan, 
it  seems,  is  a  monthly  published  in  Vancouver.  An 

274 


THE  REAL  YELLOW  PERIL  275 

editorial  in  The  Sunset  contained  the  following  sen 
tences,  in  which  the  writer  effectually  discloses  his 
own  character:  "The  Aryan's  back  cover  is  covered 
with  brotherhood  of  man  philosophy  in  large  type; 
'God  has  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for 
to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth '  and  several  others 
like  that.  That  is  all  very  well,  but  we  don't  want 
brown  men  for  brothers.  .  .  .  We  don't  care  whether 
the  Hindu  was  born  under  the  flag  or  not.  If  he 
could  peroxide  himself  white  it  would  not  make  any 
difference.  He  would  still  be  an  Oriental — smooth, 
insinuating,  sinuous,  saponaceous,  unctuous,  and 
several  other  things  expressed  by  adjectives  more 
picturesque  and  easier  to  pronounce.  The  Oriental 
does  not  rhyme  with  the  white  man  at  all  and  cannot 
keep  step.  It  is  meddling  with  nature's  arrange 
ments  ...  to  let  the  Hindus  get  their  feet  in  here." 

To  this  the  editor  of  The  Aryan  replied:  "We  are 
sure  the  Hindus  in,  as  well  as  outside  of,  India  will 
find  these  courteous  lines,  expressed  as  they  are  in 
the  vigorous  style  of  the  last  and  best  West,  grateful 
and  comforting."  Surely  the  promotion  of  the  spirit 
displayed  by  The  Sunset  is  highly  deplorable.  It  is 
due,  however,  to  ignorance,  maladjustment,  and 
misunderstandings.  This  is  one  aspect  of  the  real 
Yellow  Peril. 

The  steady  maintenance  of  a  violent  anti- Asiatic 
spirit  in  all  white  lands  cannot  fail  to  develop  a  cor 
responding  spirit  in  all  Asia.  East  and  West  will 


276    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

thus  be  consciously  set  more  and  more  against  each 
other.  In  consequence  each  side  will  be  in  constant 
fear  of  the  other,  suspecting  ill  will,  intrigue,  and 
sudden  armed  invasion.  Each  side  will  regard  as 
necessary  the  maintenance  of  large  defensive  forces. 
Each  increase  of  armament  on  either  side  will  de 
mand  corresponding  increase  on  the  other.  The 
wealth  of  both  civilizations — East  and  West — will  be 
squandered  on  ever-expanding  armaments,  to  the  in 
calculable  yet  needless  loss  in  the  economic  develop 
ment  and  general  prosperity  of  both  civilizations. 

Moreover,  with  increasing  hatred  and  suspicion, 
combined  with  a  sense  of  safety  because  of  pre 
paredness  for  war,  occasional  outbursts  of  ill  will 
would  be  altogether  likely.  Race  mobs  might  easily 
sweep  out  of  existence  small  groups  of  obnoxious 
aliens  within  their  reach.  Asiatic  resentment  against 
whites  might  easily  result  in  Boxer-like  uprisings, 
and,  because  of  ability  to  meet  the  white  man  with 
his  own  weapons  and  skill,  a  punitive  expedition  of 
the  "five  powers "  would  be  impossible. 

Outrageous  white  retaliation  on  Asiatics  within 
their  clutches  would  be  by  no  means  impossible;  for 
the  spirit  and  crimes  of  which  white  mobs  are  capable 
even  now  may  be  seen  in  their  lawless  treatment  of 
Negroes.  Should  the  spirit  of  mutual  retaliation  get 
started,  who  could  foretell  the  end?  Invasion  of 
Asia  by  Europe  and  complete  victory  would  be  im 
possible,  as  we  have  seen,  and,  equally  impossible, 


THE  REAL  YELLOW  PERIL  277 

invasion  of  Europe  and  America  by  Asia;  for  each 
invading  force  would  be  compelled  to  rest  on  its  own 
home  base.  Yet  struggles  on  sea  and  land  along 
frontiers  would  be  possible  and  well-nigh  inevitable. 
How  such  a  situation  could  end  it  is  hard  to  conceive; 
for  mutual  ignorance  and  fear  would  ever  produce 
suspicion  and  enmity,  and  these  in  turn  would  lead 
to  more  ignorance  and  fear. 

The  growing  fear  of  Yellow  and  White  Perils  on 
each  side  would  necessitate,  moreover,  the  with 
drawal  of  vast  numbers  of  able-bodied  men  from 
productive  enterprises — a  well-nigh  incalculable  eco 
nomic  loss.  Conscription  would  become  as  needful 
in  America  as  it  now  is  in  Europe  and  Japan.  This 
would  be  due,  however,  to  the  Yellow  and  White  Peril 
illusions  rather  than  to  the  actual  perils  of  invasion. 

A  state  of  belligerency  between  East  and  West 
would  not  promote  commerce,  which,  in  times  of 
war,  would  absolutely  cease.  The  importance,  how 
ever,  of  commerce  to  the  welfare  of  nations  is  beyond 
question.  The  larger  it  is  the  cheaper  the  costs  and 
the  larger  the  profits  both  to  the  producing  and  the 
consuming  people.  Whatever  interferes  with  trade 
means  loss. 

This  loss,  moreover,  falls  not  only  on  capitalists 
but  even  more  heavily  on  laborers.  They  accord 
ingly  should  be  directly  and  profoundly  interested 
in  maintaining  good-will  between  East  and  West 
and  in  promoting  international  commerce.  German, 


278    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

French,  and  English  laborers  and  socialists  have 
already  begun  to  exert  powerful  peace  influences 
between  these  nations. 

Hostility,  fear,  and  suspicion,  therefore,  between 
East  and  West  would  prevent  large  and  profitable 
commerce  between  the  two  great  streams  of  civi 
lization  and  constitute  another  aspect  of  the  real 
Yellow  Peril. 

The  principles  of  American  democracy  are  not  in 
harmony  with  the  creation  or  maintenance  of  a  large 
standing  army.  Should  this  be  thought  necessary 
through  fear  of  a  yellow  invasion,  the  very  structure 
of  our  republic  would  be  threatened.  The  republic 
of  Rome  was  overthrown  by  ambitious  men  in  con 
trol  of  armies  for  foreign  conquest.  Would  it  be 
possible  for  ambitious  American  generals,  in  com 
mand  of  millions  of  troops,  to  accept  control  from  a 
civilian  President?  Armies  want  to  do  that  for  which 
they  exist. 

And  at  the  periodic  presidential  elections,  would 
not  favorite  generals  become  powerful  candidates? 
In  case  of  electoral  defeat,  might  not  the  army,  whose 
fundamental  postulate  is  force,  refuse  to  submit  to 
the  ballot  and  appeal  to  the  bayonet? 

The  Yellow  Peril  illusion  necessitating  large  arma 
ments  thus  carries  implicit  within  it  real  dangers  to 
the  very  structure  of  our  boasted  democracy. 

The  East  needs  the  West,  and  the  West  needs  the 
East.  These  complementary  civilizations  have  much 


THE  REAL  YELLOW  PERIL  279 

to  give,  each  to  the  other.  The  gains  acquired  by 
long  ages  of  isolated  and  divergent  evolution  should 
now  be  exchanged  to  mutual  advantage.  Such  ex 
change,  however,  can  take  place  only  in  an  atmos 
phere  of  mutual  good- will  and  of  readiness  to  learn. 
An  attitude  of  mutual  scorn  absolutely  prevents 
the  insight  essential  to  appreciation  and  acquisition. 
The  best  things  in  each  civilization  which  the  other 
needs  are  not  material  or  physical ;  these  it  were  easy 
to  exchange  even  when  the  spirit  is  hateful.  The 
best  elements  lie  in  the  realm  of  the  spirit — in  art 
and  literature,  in  philosophy,  morals,  and  religion. 
Appreciation  here  demands  time  and  quietness  of 
spirit,  openness  of  heart,  and  mutual  good- will.  The 
best  gifts  of  head  and  heart  cannot  be  given  nor 
acquired  where  mutual  sympathy,  respect,  and  good 
will  are  lacking. 

Those  who  despise  the  Oriental  and  his  civilization 
may  rub  their  eyes  in  astonishment  at  the  repeated 
assertions  of  this  book  that  the  West  has  anything 
to  learn  of  the  East.  Such,  nevertheless,  is  the  fact; 
and  the  policy  which  promotes  ignorance  and  an 
tipathy  surely  entails  serious  loss  to  both  sides. 

Multitudes  of  travellers  return  from  the  Orient 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  quality  of  its  civiliza 
tion.  Occidentals,  as  a  rule,  are  entirely  ignorant  of 
the  inner  life  of  Asia,  of  its  history,  of  the  culture 
of  its  masses,  and  the  high  ideals  and  attainments 
of  its  leaders.  The  growing  admiration  of  Occi- 


280    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

dentals,  especially  for  China  and  the  Chinese,  is  an 
impressive  sign  of  the  times. 

Asia-phobiacs  should  ask  whether,  after  all,  their 
attitude  is  not  the  result  of  ignorance.  Are  they  not 
doing  Asiatics  injustice  and  also  incurring  loss  them 
selves? 

The  Yellow  Peril  illusion  is,  indeed,  an  illusion; 
as  an  illusion,  nevertheless,  it  is  a  tremendous  fact 
and  itself  constitutes  the  main  part  of  the  Yellow 
Peril,  for  it  induces  conduct  in  both  West  and  East 
which  can  only  bring  harm. 

The  vital  factors  are  now  before  us,  alike  of  the 
special  conditions  in  California  and  of  the  world-situ 
ation.  Analysis  must  cease  and  construction  begin. 
The  world  needs  a  comprehensive  oriental  policy, 
free  from  illusions  and  from  selfishness,  which,  while 
it  conserves  the  real  interests  of  the  white  race,  pro 
vides  also  for  the  real  interests  of  Asia.  Such  po 
litical  and  social  relations  should  be  established 
that  mutual  good-will  can  be  maintained,  commerce 
steadily  increased,  and  mutual  exchange  of  the  best 
elements  in  both  civilizations  go  forward. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

OUTLINES  OF  A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL 
POLICY 

THE  present  oriental  policy  of  the  United  States 
as  a  whole  is,  in  important  respects,  humiliating 
to  the  Oriental  and  disgraceful  to  us.  Professing 
friendship  in  words,  we  deny  it  in  important  deeds. 
Demanding  an  open  door  for  Americans  in  Asia  and 
equality  of  opportunity  for  our  citizens  with  that 
accorded  to  citizens  of  the  "most  favored  nation," 
we  do  not  ourselves  grant  these  same  things  to 
Asiatics  in  our  land. 

This  disgraceful,  humiliating,  and  inconsistent 
policy,  for  which  some  extenuating  explanations  may 
doubtless  be  made,  has  grown  up  through  a  series  of 
exigencies.  The  time,  however,  has  come  for  clear 
recognition  of  the  radical  defects  of  our  present 
policy  and  for  the  formulation  of  one  more  in  har 
mony  with  our  national  ideals  and  more  suited  to 
the  new  era  of  cosmopolitan  life  on  which  the  world 
is  rapidly  entering.  The  opportunity  opening  before 
us  at  this  unique  juncture  in  the  history  of  human 
evolution  is  unparalleled.  Much  depends,  however, 
just  now  on  the  oriental  policy  of  America.  If  it  is 

281 


282    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

truly  friendly  to  Asia,  the  White  Peril  dreaded  by 
Asia  and  the  Yellow  Peril  dreaded  by  Europe  and 
America  will  both  be  converted  into  golden  oppor 
tunities  for  mutual  profit. 

Of  even  more  importance  than  the  details  of  the 
new  oriental  policy  are  the  spirit  and  the  principles 
that  underlie  them.  These  I  venture  to  state  in  the 
following  paragraphs. 

FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES 

The  new  American  oriental  policy  must  con 
sciously  abandon  the  assumption,  so  tenaciously 
held  during  recent  centuries,  and  even  still  uncon 
sciously  held  by  many,  that  the  white  race  is  in 
herently  superior  to  all  others  and  has,  therefore,  a 
kind  of  divine  right  to  rule  the  world,  to  own  for 
selfish  aggrandizement  whatever  territories  it  can 
seize,  and  to  exploit  the  native  populations  without 
regard  to  their  welfare.  America  must  insist  on  the 
abandonment  of  all  predatory  ambitions  on  the  part 
of  its  citizens  in  foreign  lands.  She  must  stand  for 
equality  of  rights  and  privileges  of  every  race.  No 
race  or  people  may  be  the  objects  of  plunder  or  ex 
ploitation  by  whites  merely  because  the  latter  pos 
sess  superior  brute  power.  This  is,  indeed,  no  new 
principle  in  America's  foreign  policy,  but  it  needs 
to  be  emphasized  and  consistently  carried  out.  We 
should  grant  to  Asiatics  in  this  land  the  same  priv 
ileges  which  we  demand  for  Americans  in  Asia  and 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    283 

which  we  grant  to  citizens  of  the  "most  favored 
nations"  residing  among  us. 

This  policy  must  Tecognize  that  there  is  a  new 
Orient,  a  rising  self-consciousness  in  the  vast  popu 
lations  of  Asia  which  must  be  won  to  friendship; 
that  the  new  Asia  can  no  longer  be  treated  as  the  old 
Asia  was  during  the  nineteenth  century.  This  means 
that  we  must  inaugurate  a  policy  of  courtesy  in  all 
our  relations  with  Asiatics — when  they  enter  our 
ports,  live  in  our  land,  come  before  our  courts,  or 
deal  with  us  in  treaties,  and  are  the  objects  of  pro 
posed  legislation  whether  local  or  national.  We 
must  deal  with  Orientals  as  we  deal  with  members 
of  other  nations.  Our  international  policy  must  be 
universal  and  free  from  all  race  discrimination. 

The  new  policy  should  sympathize  with  the  diffi 
culties  and  problems  confronting  oriental  peoples, 
economic,  political,  social,  and  educational.  Amer 
icans  should  regard  themselves  as  their  friends  and 
brothers,  to  aid  them  in  the  arduous  road  on  which 
they  have  started,  protecting  them  from  the  ava 
ricious  and  grasping  policies  of  governments  and 
nations  whose  aim  is  exploitation  of  foreign  lands. 

The  new  policy  must  also  conserve  our  distinctively 
American  institutions.  The  true  and  highest  welfare 
of  the  population  and  races  now  here  must  be  pro 
vided  for.  That  welfare,  however,  must  be  regarded 
from  a  comprehensive  standpoint.  It  must  provide 
for  the  coming  from  other  lands  and  races  and  perma- 


284    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

nent  residence  here  of  only  those  individuals  who  can 
and  will  become  full  American  citizens,  sharing  in 
the  national  life  in  all  its  aspects,  political,  economic, 
industrial,  moral,  and  religious. 

The  'new  policy  must  take  full  cognizance  of  the 
actual  situation  in  California,  both  as  regards  the 
work  and  character  of  the  various  Asiatic  peoples 
now  there,  and  also  as  regards  the  psychological  state 
of  the  Calif ornians.  It  must  not  run  counter  to  the 
mature,  sober  judgment  of  the  responsible  citizens 
of  California;  but  neither  must  it  regard  ignorant 
and  partisan  views  as  the  views  of  sane  and  intelli 
gent  judgment. 

The  new  policy  must  cut  loose  from  discredited  or 
doubtful  theories  of  race  psychology  and  sociology, 
and  must  build  on  the  assured  results  of  our  best 
modern  knowledge. 

OUTLINES  OF  THE  NEW  POLICY 

A  new  general  immigration  law  is  needed,  which 
shall  apply  impartially  to  all  races.  We  must 
abandon  all  differential  Asiatic  treatment,  even  as 
regards  immigration.  The  danger  of  an  overwhelm 
ing  oriental  immigration  can  be  obviated  by  a  gen 
eral  law  allowing  a  maximum  annual  immigration 
from  any  land  of  a  certain  fixed  percentage  of  those 
from  that  land  already  here  and  naturalized.  The 
valid  principle  on  which  such  a  law  would  rest  is  the 
fact  that  newcomers  from  any  land  enter  and  become 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY   285 

assimilated  to  our  life  chiefly  through  the  agency  of 
those  from  that  land  already  here.  These  know  the 
languages,  customs,  and  ideals  of  both  nations. 
Consequently,  the  larger  the  number  already  assim 
ilated,  the  larger  the  number  of  those  who  can  be 
wisely  admitted  year  by  year.  The  same  percent 
age  rate  would  permit  of  great  differences  in  actual 
numbers  from  different  lands. 

By  way  of  illustrating  this  suggestion,  consider  the 
following  outline  of  a  general  immigration  law: 

The  maximum  number  of  immigrants  in  a  single 
year  from  any  nation,  race,  or  group  having  a  single 
"mother  tongue"  shall  be: 

Five  per  cent  of  those  from  the  same  land  who  are 
already  naturalized  American  citizens,  including  their 
American-born  children. 

In  addition  to  these  there  shall  also  be  admitted, 
from  any  land,  all  who  are  returning  to  America, 
having  at  some  previous  time  had  a  residence  here 
of  not  less  than  three  years. 

All  immediate  dependent  relatives  of  those  who 
have  had  a  residence  here  of  not  less  than  three  years. 

All  who  have  had  an  education  in  their  own  land 
equivalent  to  the  American  high  school,  with  not 
less  than  three  years'  study  of  some  foreign  tongue. 

In  the  application  of  these  provisions,  individuals 
who  come  as  bona-fide  travellers,  government  offi 
cials,  students — in  a  word,  all  who  are  provided 
for  by  funds  from  their  native  land — should  not  be 


286    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

counted  as  immigrants;  but  all  merchants,  profes 
sionals,  students,  and  all  others,  even  though  not 
technically  laborers,  who  yet  depend  on  their  own 
efforts  in  this  land  for  a  living  should  be  so  reckoned. 

Exactly  how  the  suggested  percentage  rate  would 
work,  only  a  careful  statistical  examination  would 
show. 

The  census  for  1910  does  not  distinguish  between 
resident  and  naturalized  foreigners.  The  writer  has, 
accordingly,  attempted  to  supply  a  rough  estimate 
for  a  few  countries.  Starting  with  the  immigration 
for  the  past  decade,  he  has  assumed  arbitrarily 
(yet  basing  his  assumption  on  certain  statements 
given  in  the  census  for  1910)  that  the  number  of 
aliens  who  have  either  died  or  returned  to  their 
native  lands  is  twenty  per  cent  of  the  total  arrivals. 
He  has  also  assumed,  arbitrarily,  that  of  the  re 
mainder  sixty  per  cent  are  still  aliens,  i.  e.}  that  forty 
per  cent  have  become  naturalized.  Applying,  then, 
the  percentage  scale,  he  has  computed  the  maximum 
possible  annual  immigration.  His  results  are  given 
in  the  accompanying  table. 

For  instance,  columns  1-3  are  taken  bodily  from 
the  census.  Column  4  is  taken  from  the  latest  re 
port  on  immigration.  Column  5  is  twenty  per  cent 
of  column  4.  Column  6  is  sixty  per  cent  of  the 
difference  between  columns  4  and  5.  Column  7  is  the 
difference  between  columns  3  and  6.  Column  8  is 
five  per  cent  of  column  7,  which  gives  the  maximum 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    287 

number  of  possible  annual  immigrants.  For  con 
venience  of  comparison  with  the  actual  immigration, 
column  9  is  added.  If  these  assumptions  are  re- 


COUNTBT 

FOREIGN 
BORN 

1 

AMERICAN- 
BORN  CHIL 
DREN,  ONE  OR 
BOTH  PARENTS 
FOREIGN 
2 

TOTAL 

FOREIGN 
WHITE  STOCK 

3 

Germany  

2,500,000 

5,780,000 

8,280,000 

Great  Britain  

2,570,000 
960,000 

5,160,000 
1,490,000 

7,730,000 
2,450,000 

Russia 

1,730  000 

1,020,000 

2,750,000 

Italy 

1,340,000 

750,000 

2,090,000 

Austria  

1,670,000 

1,030,000 

2,700,000 

China 

56,000 

14,775 

Japan  

67,000 

4,410 

OOUNTBT 

IMMIGRATION 
PAST  DECADE 

4 

ESTIMATED 
DEATHS  AND 
DEPARTURES 
5 

ESTIMATED 
RESIDENT 
ALIENS 
6 

Germany 

350,000 

70,000 

168,000 

Great  Britain  
Scandinavia  

958,000 
491,000 

191,000 
98,000 

459,000 
235,000 

Russia  

1,725,000 

345,000 

822,000 

Italy 

2,071,000 

414,000 

993,000 

Austria  

2,097,000 

419,000 

1,006,000 

China 

56,000 

Japan 

67,000 

COUNTKY 

ESTIMATED 
CITIZENS  AND 
CHILDREN 
7 

POSSIBLE 
ANNUAL  IMMI 
GRATION 
8 

ACTUAL  IMMI 
GRATION,  1912 

9 

Germany 

8  112,000 

405,600 

27,788 

Great  Britain  

7,270,000 

363,500 

82,979 

Scandinavia 

2,215,000 

110,750 

27,550 

Russia  

1,928,000 

96,400 

162,395 

Italy 

1,097,000 

54,850 

157,134 

Austria  ...          .    . 

1,694,000 

84,700 

178,882 

China 

14,775 

738 

Japan  

4,410 

220 

288    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

garded  as  fairly  plausible  and  the  calculations  have 
been  correct,  we  reach  the  result  that  the  proposed 
five  per  cent  rate  would  allow  all  probable  immigra 
tion  from  Germany,  Great  Britain,  and  Scandinavia, 
while  it  would  put  a  check  on  Russian,  Austrian,  and 
Italian  immigration. 

The  immigration  law  suggested  above  would  make 
it  impossible  for  a  new  country  like  Patagonia  or 
Tibet  to  get  started — for  it  would  have  no  natural 
ized  citizens  here  from  whom  the  five  per  cent  rate 
could  be  estimated.  To  make  immigration  possible 
for  new  countries  it  might  be  desirable  to  set  an 
arbitrary  limit — say  of  five  hundred  or  possibly  one 
thousand  immigrants  per  annum  as  a  maximum  for 
any  country  having  less  than  twenty  thousand  natu 
ralized  citizens  in  America. 

Since  preparing  the  present  chapter,  the  writer's 
attention  has  been  called  to  the  proposal  of  Sena 
tor  Dillingham,  made  in  June,  1913,  that  annual 
immigration  be  allowed  from  any  country  up  to  ten 
per  cent  of  those  from  that  land  already  here,  yet 
allowing  a  minimum  of  five  thousand  to  come  from 
any  land,  however  few  may  be  their  representatives 
in  this  country.  The  similarity  of  the  writer's 
thought  with  that  of  the  senator's  is  apparent. 
Senator  Dillingham  proposes,  however,  to  leave 
Asiatic  exclusion  laws  as  they  stand,  making  no 
effort  to  solve  the  difficult  and  highly  important 
Asiatic  problem. 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    289 

The  writer  is  not  particularly  concerned  with 
defending  the  five  per  cent  rate  here  suggested.  He 
merely  uses  it  by  way  of  illustration.  Those  better 
acquainted  with  the  facts  of  immigration  and  the 
speed  of  social  assimilation  must  determine  just 
what  percentage  would  be  wise.  The  present  con 
tention  centres  on  the  point  that  whatever  the  wise 
rate  may  be  it  should  be  applied  equally  to  all  races. 
This  principle  alone  avoids  the  difficulty  of  invidious 
race  discrimination. 

Bureaus  of  alien  registration  and  education  are 
needed  for  the  supervision  of  the  education  of  all 
aliens.  The  working  classes  of  Europe  and  Japan 
are  accustomed  to  registration  and  to  constant 
police  supervision.  This  serves  as  a  restraint  to 
crime.  The  instant  removal  of  this  restraint  on 
arrival  in  this  land  is  far  from  wholesome.  Every 
alien,  moreover,  permanently  residing  in  this  coun 
try  should  be  making  steady  preparation  for  citizen 
ship,  that  is,  for  ability  to  live  here  intelligently  and 
profitably  both  to  himself  and  to  us.  All  aliens 
should  be  required  to  register  and  to  keep  regis 
tered,  paying  a  substantial  annual  fee  of,  say,  ten 
dollars,  until  naturalized.  They  should  keep  the 
bureau  informed^of  changes  of  residence.  Failure  to 
pay  the  annual  fee  or  to  keep  registered  should  be 
punishable  by  fines,  and,  if  persisted  in,  should  be  a 
cause  for  deportation.  All  unregistered  aliens  should 
be  liable  to  deportation. 


290    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

Graded  courses  of  study  in  American  history, 
civics,  and  English  should  be  prepared  and  oppor 
tunity  given  for  annual  examinations  under  federal 
supervision — free  of  charge.  The  annual  registra 
tion  fee  might  be  diminished  with  each  examination 
passed.  Certificates  of  graduation  should  be  es 
sential  for  naturalization.  Federal  aid  might  be 
given  to  institutions  providing  facilities  for  alien 
education;  night-schools  might  be  opened  in  public- 
school  buildings.  All  institutions  such  as  Y.  M. 
C.  A.'s  or  churches  providing  systematic  education 
for  aliens  along  the  lines  of  the  federal  law  might 
receive  subsidies. 

Of  course,  the  establishment  and  development  of 
such  an  undertaking  would  entail  enormous  work, 
expense,  and  patience;  much  common  sense  would  be 
required  to  avoid  needless  red  tape;  those  in  charge 
should  ever  seek  to  carry  out  the  spirit.  An  inci 
dental  yet  important  advantage  of  this  system  would 
be  the  close  knowledge  by  our  authorities  of  aliens 
in  their  first  years  here  and  the  ability  to  pick  out 
and  deport  undesirables  such  as  anarchists,  white- 
slave  dealers,  or  flagrant  criminals.  No  small  part 
of  our  national  difficulty  with  immigration  has  been 
our  laissez-faire  policy  in  regard  to  their  education 
for  citizenship.  The  method  of  registration  would 
enable  the  authorities  to  detect  and  deport  such  as 
may  have  made  their  way  into  America  illegitimately. 
The  systematic  care  and  education  of  all  aliens  in 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    291 

America  is  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  country, 
of  far  more  practical  and  also  of  pressing  impor 
tance  than  our  splendid  educational  enterprise  in  the 
Philippines. 

The  bureau  of  immigration  and  naturalization 
might  well  be  divided  and  the  functions  of  the  latter 
modified  and  extended.  The  work  and  responsibil 
ity  of  granting  naturalization  to  aliens  should  be 
taken  away  from  courts,  which  are  not  qualified  for 
such  a  function,  and  vested  in  a  body  specially  con 
stituted  for  that  purpose.  Every  candidate  for  citi 
zenship  should  present  a  certificate  of  graduation  in 
American  history,  politics,  civics,  English,  and  prin 
ciples  of  American  civilization.  The  bureau  of  natu 
ralization  should  also  make  investigation  as  to  the 
moral  fitness  of  candidates,  granting  naturalization 
only  to  those  morally  as  well  as  educationally  quali 
fied. 

A  day  might  be  set  aside  each  year,  perhaps  the 
Fourth  of  July,  or  Washington's  birthday,  on  which 
to  administer  with  due  solemnity  the  oath  of  alle 
giance  and  to  extend  official  welcome  to  all  new 
citizens;  patriotic  banquets  and  speeches,  with  ap 
propriate  pins,  banners,  and  badges  could  make  the 
event  as  important  and  significant  as  commencement 
exercises  are  in  our  colleges  and  universities.1 

1  Might  it  not  be  wise  to  extend  this  system  of  education  for  cit 
izenship,  with  examinations,  formal  administration  of  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  and  official  welcome  to  all  native-born  Americans  who 
reach  the  voting  age?  Surely  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship  are 


292    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

A  fresh  definition  of  eligibility  for  American  citizen 
ship  is  needed.  American  citizenship  should  be  based 
on  individual  qualification.  Race  of  itself  alone 
should  not  be  a  disqualification  for  citizenship.  Let 
us  raise  the  standards  for  citizenship  as  high  as  may 
be  needed,  but,  whatever  the  standards  are,  let  us 
apply  them  impartially;  whoever  qualifies  should  be 
admitted. 

Let  such  special  legislation  as  may  be  needed  to 
enable  Asiatic  naturalization  be  taken  promptly  by 
Congress. 

The  granting  of  rights  of  naturalization  to  all  on 
a  personal,  not  on  a  racial,  basis  would  go  far  toward 
solving  the  entire  problem  now  pending  with  Japan. 
Existing  anti-Japanese  legislation  of  California  and 
other  States  would  at  once  be  void.  The  Japanese 
nation  and  government  would  be  intensely  gratified, 
for  they  would  recognize  that  America  as  a  whole 
insists  on  justice  and  equality  of  treatment  for  Jap 
anese  in  our  land. 

Japanese  individuals  who  have  taken  the  required 
courses  of  education  for  citizenship  and  are  ready,  on 
the  one  hand,  to  renounce  openly  their  allegiance  to 
Japan  and,  on  the  other,  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  United  States  would,  without  doubt,  make  as 

too  great  to  be  intrusted  to  those  who  are  not  qualified,  and  the  mere 
fact  of  birth  in  America,  or  even  of  graduation  from  the  grammar- 
school,  is  not  an  adequate  guarantee  of  such  qualification.  Espe 
cially  important  does  this  suggestion  appear  to  be  in  the  case  of  chil 
dren  one  or  both  of  whose  parents  are  foreign-born,  such  as  Russians, 
Italians,  Japanese,  or  Chinese. 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    293 

loyal  Americans  as  those  who  come  from  any  other 
land. 

Direct  federal  responsibility  in  all  legal  and  legisla 
tive  matters  involving  aliens  is  also  essential.  Aliens 
are  guests  of  the  nation,  not  of  the  States;  and  the 
nation  is  responsible  to  foreign  governments  for 
their  just  treatment.  Foreign  governments  have  no 
relation  with  the  States  but  only  with  the  Federal 
Government.  It  is,  therefore,  the  duty  of  the  Fed 
eral  Government  to  provide  that  the  treaty  rights 
of  aliens  are  accorded  them.  It  logically  follows 
that  legal  proceedings  involving  aliens  should  be 
handled  exclusively  in  federal,  not  in  State  courts. 
The  nation  must  provide  that  treaty  and  other 
rights  are  accorded  aliens,  regardless  of  the  ignorance 
or  prejudice  of  unfriendly  localities. 

It  might  perhaps  be  wise  by  special  provision  to 
allow  local  courts  to  handle  minor  matters,  such  as 
misdemeanors  and  transgressions  of  police  regulations 
and  city  ordinances.  The  general  principle,  how 
ever,  should  be  as  stated  above.  To  some  this  sug 
gestion  may  seem  a  matter  chiefly  of  theory,  yet  it 
is  at  this  moment  one  of  international  importance. 
California  and  other  States  hide  behind  the  national 
flag  to  protect  them  in  spite  of  their  ill-treatment 
of  the  citizens  of  Japan  and  China. 

In  1864  the  Japanese  Government  failed  to  compel 
one  of  the  clans  to  observe  a  recently  made  treaty 
allowing  foreigners  certain  rights.  Thereupon  sev- 


294    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

eral  of  the  powers  proceeded  directly  to  the  obstrep 
erous  clan  and  taught  it  a  lesson  on  the  importance 
of  national  unity  and  of  obedience  on  the  part  of 
each  clan  to  the  international  arrangements  made  by 
the  central  government. 

The  United  States  has  for  sixty  years  pledged  her 
friendship  and  good- will  to  Japan.  In  several  Pacific 
coast  States  legislation  has  been  repeatedly  pro 
posed  highly  insulting  and,  if  passed,  seriously  injuri 
ous  to  the  citizens  of  Japan.  All  such  local  legis 
lation  affecting  differentially  the  interests  of  citizens 
of  other  nations  should  be  absolutely  impossible. 

A  national  commission  on  biological  and  social  as 
similation  is  needed.  This  should  be  a  commission  of 
expert  biologists,  psychologists,  and  sociologists  of  in 
ternational  repute,  and  should  be  adequately  financed. 
The  results  of  their  study  should  be  embodied  in 
national  laws  concerning  (1)  the  intermarriage  of 
individuals  of  different  races,  (2)  the  elimination  by 
sterilization  of  those  whose  heredity  renders  procrea 
tion  a  menace  to  the  nation,  and  (3)  wise  methods 
for  Americanizing  already  compacted  unassimilated 
groups  of  aliens. 

There  is  no  more  intricate  and  at  the  same  time 
important  problem  confronting  our  country  to-day 
than  that  of  the  intermarriage  of  the  races.  We 
need  scientific  knowledge  in  regard  to  the  biological 
and  the  sociological  consequences.  If  the  cross 
ing  of  white  and  Asiatic  individuals  results  in  off- 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    295 

spring  biologically  or  psychically  undesirable,  this 
fact  should  be  scientifically  established  and  made 
known  to  all  our  people  and  also  to  Asiatics.  But 
if  scientific  study  of  the  facts  does  not  support  that 
contention,  then  this  should  also  be  clearly  estab 
lished. 

We  need  rational  national  laws  on  this  subject. 
It  is  absurd  for  California  to  have  laws  forbidding 
the  marriage  of  whites  and  Mongolians  while  Colo 
rado  does  not.  It  is  preposterous  to  make  a  crime 
in  California  what  is  perfectly  legal  in  Colorado  or 
Nevada.  And  the  California  law  is  of  no  practical 
effect,  for  that  State  has  to  recognize  the  legitimacy 
of  mixed  marriages  if  performed  outside  of  her  own 
limits.  If  the  California  law  rests  on  good  scientific 
grounds,  then  it  should  be  national;  if  it  does  not, 
then  California  should  have  no  such  law. 

Regulation  of  international  news  should  be  an  in 
tegral  part  of  the  new  American  oriental  policy. 
The  "yellow  press"  is  the  real  Yellow  Peril  to-day. 
The  publication  as  news  of  the  suspicions,  exaggera 
tions,  and  even  malicious  fabrications  of  irrespon 
sible  newsmongers  breeds  ill  will  and  antagonism 
between  nations.  What  may  be  the  best  legal 
methods  for  securing  reliable  international  news  is  a 
problem  for  lawyers  to  decide.  The  writer,  how 
ever,  suggests  that  laws  might  be  passed  providing 
that  any  paper  convicted  of  being  the  first  to  pub 
lish,  as  telegraphic  or  other  news,  material  which  is 


296    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

either  fabricated  or  grossly  or  maliciously  exagger 
ated  should  be  required  to  publish,  in  equally  con 
spicuous  type  and  place  as  the  original  news,  the 
fact  of  its  conviction,  the  correction,  and  the  name 
of  the  responsible  individual.  Every  paper  that 
copied  that  news  should  also  be  required  to  publish 
the  correction.  Some  specially  appointed  officer 
should  have  the  right  to  institute  proceedings  in  the 
proper  court.  Repeated  offences  should  render  the 
offender  liable  to  fine  or  imprisonment.  In  some 
such  way  as  this  all  papers  would  be  led  to  utilize 
only  trustworthy  reporters  of  international  news;  for 
no  paper  would  dare  repeatedly  to  proclaim  its  own 
villainy  or  stupidity,  or  both.  What  the  nations 
need  to-day  is  absolutely  accurate  information  re 
garding  each  other.  If  this  can  be  secured,  if  the 
utilization  of  the  cable  and  the  press  by  those  who 
wish  war  or  at  least  war  scares  can  be  prevented,  a 
great  step  will  have  been  taken  toward  the  attain 
ment  of  international  understanding  and  good-will 
and  thus  of  universal  peace.  But  whatever  the  best 
method  for  securing  it  may  be,  it  is  clear  that  the 
continuous  malicious  poisoning  of  the  public  mind  in 
regard  to  other  lands  is  one  of  the  great  crimes  of 
modern  times  for  the  suppression  of  which  a  wise 
national  policy  should  provide. 

A  department  of  national  benevolence  also  is  needed. 
In  spite  of  the  ridicule  which  he  knows  will  be 
hurled  at  this  "visionary"  suggestion  by  "practical" 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    297 

men,  the  writer,  nevertheless,  makes  bold  to  present 
this  item  in  his  vision  of  the  needed  new  national 
policy. 

This  new  department  might  be  constituted  as  a 
bureau  under  the  Secretary  of  State.  Its  work 
would  be  to  conduct  large  international  benevolent 
enterprises.  Its  support  might  be  provided  by  a 
law  setting  aside,  say,  one  per  cent  of  the  gross 
national  revenue. 

The  activities  of  this  department  would  fall  into 
two  sections,  that  in  the  United  States  and  that  in 
other  lands.  That  in  America  would  consist  of 
campaigns  of  education  for  the  promotion  of  better 
understanding  and  higher  appreciation  of  foreign 
nations.  Hundreds  of  promising  American  young 
men  and  women  should  be  sent  to  the  various  lands 
to  master  their  languages  and  literatures,  who  on 
their  return  would  be  able  to  dispel  the  ignorance  at 
the  bottom  of  so  many  of  our  troubles.  They  would 
be  fitted  to  become  editors  of  the  foreign  news  of  our 
great  dailies,  weeklies,  and  monthlies  and  to  take 
important  posts  in  our  government  at  home  and 
abroad. 

The  work  of  this  department  in  other  countries 
would  be  widely  varied  but  always  in  sympathetic 
co-operation  with  the  governments  of  those  coun 
tries.  The  chief  forms  of  activity  would  probably  be 
the  contribution  of  substantial  sums  for  emergency 
relief  and  for  the  establishment  of  educational  and 


298    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

philanthropic  institutions.  Scholarships  might  well 
be  provided  to  bring  to  this  land  considerable  num 
bers  of  qualified  students,  who  on  returning  to  their 
homelands  would  serve  not  only  as  competent 
interpreters  of  America  to  their  people  but  also  as 
powerful  agents  for  carrying  into  every  land  our 
ideals  and  practices. 

Backward  nations  should  be  aided  in  opening  new 
industries  and  in  developing  natural  sources  of  wealth. 
Whatever  would  give  real  and  lasting  help  to  other 
peoples  might  be  done.  In  times  of  flood  or  earth 
quake,  drought  or  fire,  prompt  aid  could  be  given — 
feeding  the  hungry;  rebuilding  dikes;  dredging  rivers; 
re-establishing  institutions.  In  times  of  plague  or 
epidemic,  physicians  and  nurses  could  be  supplied. 
In  a  word,  the  work  of  the  Red  Cross  Society  abroad 
would  be  taken  up  as  a  regular  part  of  the  nation's 
duty,  and  vastly  extended.  The  department  splen 
didly  financed  should  be  splendidly  managed  by  the 
best  brains  the  nation  could  command. 

Such  a  policy,  carried  out  for  a  score  of  years, 
would  transform  the  spirit  of  the  nations.  It  would, 
first  of  all,  change  our  own  attitude  toward  other 
nations,  because  it  would  give  us  real  and  sym 
pathetic  knowledge.  It  would  evoke  profound  grat 
itude  among  the  nations  struggling  with  the  problems 
of  poverty,  disease,  and  ignorance.  Incidentally,  I 
doubt  not,  it  would  mightily  promote  the  permanent 
prosperity  of  our  own  land.  Were  America  to  devote 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    299 

as  large  a  sum  to  a  department  of  peace  and  benev 
olence  as  it  now  expends  on  its  army  and  navy,  how 
long  would  the  latter  be  needed?  Since  the  Spanish 
War  the  United  States  is  said  to  have  spent  on  war 
preparations  $3,000,000,000. 

No  other  country  in  the  world  can  so  well  under 
take  such  a  policy.  Is  not  vast  national  wealth  a 
divine  international  trust?  The  white  races  have 
taken  possession  of  the  great  unoccupied  natural 
resources  of  the  world.  Should  not  that  wealth  be 
used  for  the  benefit  also  of  nations  less  favored? 

"The  quality  of  Mercy  is  not  strained. 
It  droppeth  as  the  gentle  rain  from  heaven, 
Upon  the  place  beneath;  it  is  twice  blessed; 
It  blesseth  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes. 
'Tis  mightiest  in  the  mightiest." 

These  fundamental  principles  of  human  life  are 
as  true  of  nations  as  of  individuals.  Should  not  our 
nation  inaugurate  a  policy  of  national  benevolence 
commensurate  with  its  other  activities?  Is  not  the 
truly  great  nation,  no  less  than  the  truly  great  man, 
the  one  that  gives  liberally  not  only  of  its  wealth 
but  of  its  thought  and  time  and  effort  for  the  welfare 
of  others? 

Is  this  suggestion  so  absolutely  foolish  and  impos 
sible  as  Mr.  Worldly  Wiseman  asserts? 

Systematic  education  of  public-school  children  in 
oriental  history  is  another  item  in  the  writer's  vision 
of  the  new  American  oriental  policy.  Indeed,  for 


300     THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

the  general  elimination  of  race  prejudice  education 
is  needed  in  regard  to  the  histories  of  all  the  peo 
ples  from  whom  immigrants  come  to  our  shores. 
Anthropological  readers  should  be  prepared,  devoting 
one  or  more  chapters  to  each  race  and  people  of 
whom  representatives  live  in  our  land,  written  from 
an  appreciative  standpoint  and  setting  forth  the 
noble  deeds  of  each;  they  should  be  well  illustrated 
with  fine  engravings  of  the  best  representatives, 
dressed  in  modern  European  clothing,  in  order  to 
avoid  those  caricatures  which  are  so  common  in 
pictures  of  strange  peoples.  Such  readers  would  help 
the  young  to  get  over  their  spontaneous  feelings  of 
race  antipathy. 

The  splendid  deeds  of  heroism  done  by  Jew  and 
Spaniard,  Italian  and  Hungarian,  French,  German 
and  English,  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  Hindoo  should 
all  be  set  forth  with  appreciation.  Japan  and  China 
and  India  have  had  their  illustrious  histories  no 
less  than  England,  Germany,  and  France.  Should 
not  the  outstanding  characters  and  achievements  of 
these  lands  be  taught  to  our  young?  George  Wash 
ington,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Benjamin  Franklin,  and 
many  English  and  European  heroes  of  progress  and 
high  ideals  are  known,  not  only  by  name  but  also 
for  what  they  did,  to  all  in  Japan  who  have  had  a 
secondary  education  and  to  all  the  higher  classes 
in  primary  schools.  How  many  in  our  land,  even 
college  graduates,  could  tell  anything  whatever 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    301 

of  Shotoku  Taishi,  Kusunoki  Masashige,  Nichiren, 
Shonen,  and  other  great  leaders  in  Japan?  It  is 
high  time  that  the  study  of  oriental  peoples  and  his 
tories  should  be  introduced  into  our  public  schools. 
It  would  help  greatly  toward  race  reconciliation, 
even  as  kindly  and  truthful  histories  of  the  Civil 
War  have  done  much  to  reconcile  North  and  South. 

Summing  up  now  the  various  items  in  the  pro 
posed  new  American  oriental  policy,  the  writer 
urges : 

American  citizenship  should  be  granted  to  every 
qualified  individual  regardless  of  race. 

Immigration  from  any  land  should  be  allowed  on  a 
percentage  rate  of  those  from  the  same  land  who  are 
already  naturalized  including  their  American-born 
children. 

There  should  be  a  bureau  of  alien  registration  and 
education. 

The  granting  of  naturalization  should  be  vested 
in  a  bureau  of  naturalization. 

There  should  be  direct  federal  responsibility  for 
all  legal  and  legislative  matters  in  which  aliens  as 
such  are  involved. 

A  national  commission  should  be  appointed  to 
study  and  report  on  the  problems  of  biological  and 
sociological  assimilation. 

Some  method  should  be  provided  for  making  in 
ternational  news  reliable. 


302     THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

A  department  of  national  benevolence  should  be 
established  as  an  integral  part  of  our  government. 

Children  and  young  people  in  public  schools 
should  be  educated  in  oriental  history. 

Such  are  the  outlines  of  a  comprehensive  policy 
for  the  treatment  of  all  races  and  nations  and  the 
care  of  all  resident  aliens  in  our  land.  To  some  it 
may  perhaps  seem  a  misnomer  to  call  this  plan  an 
oriental  policy,  for  it  advocates  nothing  distinc 
tive  regarding  Orientals.  True;  and  this  exactly  is 
the  reason  for  calling  it  our  new  oriental  policy;  it 
is  a  policy  which  does  not  discriminate  against 
Asiatics  and,  therefore,  is  new.  It  is  new  both  as 
to  its  spirit  and  as  to  its  concrete  elements. 

The  early  adoption  of  some  such  policy  as  this  is 
important.  Unless  something  is  done  promptly 
there  is  every  reason  to  anticipate  further  aggressive 
anti-Japanese  legislation  in  California  when  the  next 
session  of  its  legislature  meets  (1915).  Further  dis 
criminative  legislation,  however,  would  still  further 
alienate  the  friendly  feeling  of  Japan  and  render  still 
more  complicated  and  difficult  of  solution  the  inter 
national  situation.  The  early  adoption  of  the  main 
features  of  this  policy  would  assure  California,  on  the 
one  hand,  that  no  swamping  Asiatic  immigration  is 
to  be  allowed,  thus  securing  what  she  demands.  It 
would  also  satisfy  and  even  please  Japan,  granting 
the  substance  of  what  she  urges.  Anti-Japanese 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    303 

legislation  in  California  would  not  only  be  impossi 
ble  but  not  desired  by  any  responsible  section  of  that 
State,  and  the  cause  of  international  friction  would 
be  removed. 

As  regards  the  Chinese  also,  the  situation  would 
be  much  improved.  The  fairness — yes,  the  generos 
ity — of  our  policy,  adopted  by  us  with  no  pressure 
from  her  side,  would  serve  to  strengthen  and  deepen 
the  spirit  of  friendship  for  America  and  render  still 
more  effective  American  influence  in  guiding  that 
new  republic  through  the  troublous  times  that  are 
surely  ahead. 

If  America  can  permanently  hold  the  friendship 
and  trust  of  Japan  and  China  through  just,  courte 
ous,  and  kindly  treatment,  she  will  thereby  destroy 
the  anticipated  anti-white  Asiatic  solidarity.  If 
America  proves  to  Asia  that  one  white  people  at 
least  does  not  despise  Asiatics  as  such  nor  seek 
to  exploit  them,  but  rather  on  a  basis  of  mutual  re 
spect  and  justice  seeks  their  real  prosperity,  they  will 
discover  that  what  they  feared  as  the  White  Peril 
is,  in  fact,  an  inestimable  benefit.  And  that  change 
of  feeling  will  bring  to  naught  the  Yellow  Peril  now 
dreaded  by  the  whites. 

America's  new  oriental  policy  will  go  far  toward 
instilling  new  principles  into  other  nations  and  races 
and  will  thus  help  mightily  in  the  promotion  of  uni 
versal  good-will  and  the  permanent  peace  of  the 
world.  These,  however,  are  the  essential  conditions 


304    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

under  which  each  race,  nation,  and  even  tribe  can 
make  its  own  peculiar  contribution  to  the  richer  life 
of  the  world. 

Even  from  the  lower  standpoint  of  commercial 
and  economic  interests,  the  policy  of  justice  toward 
and  friendship  with  the  Orient  is  beyond  question 
the  right  one.  Armed  conflict  or  even  merely  sullen 
hostility  mightily  hamper  trade  success.  Rapid  in 
ternal  development  in  China  and  a  rising  standard 
of  life  among  her  millions  means  enormous  trade 
with  America — if  we  are  friendly  and  just.  And  un 
selfish  friendship  and  justice  on  our  side  will  hasten 
mightily  the  uplift  of  China's  millions.  Our  own 
highest  prosperity  is  inseparable  from  that  of  all  Asia. 
So  long  as  friendship  is  maintained  and  peace  based 
on  just  international  relations,  the  military  Yellow 
Peril  'will  be  impossible.  In  proportion  as  the  scale 
of  living  among  Asia's  working  millions  rises  to  the 
level  of  our  own  is  the  danger  of  an  economic  Yellow 
Peril  diminished. 

Every  consideration,  therefore,  of  justice,  human 
ity,  and  self-interest  demands  the  early  adoption  of 
the  general  principles  of  this  new  oriental  policy.  It 
conserves  all  the  interests  of  the  East  and  the  West 
and  is  in  harmony  with  the  new  era  of  universal 
convergent  evolution  of  mankind. 

In  his  notable  address  at  Mobile  (October,  1913), 
President  Wilson  well  stated  the  general  principles 
of  true  international  relationships.  He  was  speak- 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    305 

ing,  it  is  true;  with  the  South  American  nations  in 
view,  but  his  words  are  equally  true  of  the  world  as 
a  whole.  As  reported  by  the  press,  he  said: 

"We  must  prove  ourselves  their  friends  and 
champions,  upon  terms  of  equality  and  honor.  You 
cannot  be  friends  upon  any  other  terms  than  upon 
the  terms  of  equality. 

"You  cannot  be  friends  at  all  except  upon  the 
terms  of  honor,  and  we  must  show  ourselves  friends 
by  comprehending  their  interest,  whether  it  squares 
with  our  interest  or  not.  It  is  a  very  perilous  thing 
to  determine  the  foreign  policy  of  a  nation  in  the 
terms  of  material  interest.  It  not  only  is  unfair  to 
those  with  whom  you  are  dealing  but  it  is  degrading 
upon  the  part  of  your  own  actions. 

"Human  rights,  national  integrity  and  opportu 
nity,  as  against  material  interests, — that,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  is  the  issue  which  we  now  have  to  face. 

"I  want  to  take  this  occasion  to  say  that  the 
United  States  will  never  again  seek  one  additional 
foot  of  territory  by  conquest.  She  will  devote  her 
self  to  showing  that  she  knows  how  to  make  honor 
able  and  fruitful  use  of  the  territory  she  has.  And 
she  must  regard  it  as  one  of  the  duties  of  friendship 
to  see  that  from  no  quarter  are  material  interests 
made  superior  to  human  liberty  and  national  oppor 
tunity." 

These  are  the  principles  which  should  actuate  the 
policy  of  every  nation  in  Christendom  in  its  relations 


306    THE  AMERICAN  JAPANESE  PROBLEM 

to  the  Orient  and  indeed  to  each  other.  Who  can 
foretell  the  changes  in  the  attitude  of  the  Orient 
toward  Christendom  and  in  its  receptiveness  of  our 
ways  of  life  and  thought  if  the  national  policies  of 
the  world  should  be  really  controlled  by  principles 
of  true  friendship? 

The  full  programme  for  universal  peace  would,  of 
course,  demand  much  more  than  has  been  suggested 
in  this  work.1  International  justice  must  be  actu- 


1  America,  for  instance,  should  heed  Great  Britain's  protests  in 
regard  to  Panama  tolls;  Colombia  should  in  some  way  be  given  sat 
isfaction;  the  Alaskan  panhandle  might  well  be  given  to  Canada. 

Might  not  the  nations  of  Europe  take  steps  to  adjust  by  arbitra 
tion  long-disputed  territorial  boundaries  which  have  been  settled  by 
the  sword,  such  as  Alsace-Lorraine,  Schleswig-Holstein,  Finland,  Po 
land?  Might  not  Russia  be  given  ice-free  ports? 

Might  not  Great  Britain  adopt  the  policy  of  giving  India  complete 
autonomy,  within  the  Empire,  as  soon  as  she  qualifies  for  effective 
self-government . 

As  regards  China,  might  not  Germany  return  Kiao  Chao  and  the 
wonderful  astronomical  instruments  seized  at  the  time  of  the  relief 
of  Pekin?  Might  not  France  return  Indo-China,  England  Hong 
kong,  and  Japan  Port  Arthur?  By  joint  action  the  nations  might 
return  each  its  own  concession  in  Shanghai  as  also  the  surplus  Boxer 
indemnities. 

These  suggestions  do  not  propose  instant  action  without  suitable 
guarantees  or  compensations.  History  has  established  certain  con 
ditions  which  cannot  be  treated  as  though  they  were  not.  Yet  the 
sovereignty  and  dignity  of  China  demand  that  these  conditions  shall 
not  permanently  remain.  China,  on  her  side,  must,  of  course,  qualify 
for  the  resumption  of  these  rights  and  responsibilities.  Plans  hon 
orable  and  equitable  for  all  the  parties  concerned  can  certainly  be 
found  when  selfish  ambitions  are  abandoned. 

It  is  folly  for  Occidentals  to  fancy  that  China  can  feel  really 
friendly  to  Western  nations  so  long  as  they  hold,  by  military  force, 
strategic  places  within  her  boundaries.  Foreign  troops,  foreign 
domination,  and  extra-territorial  courts  administering  in  China  and 
upon  Chinese  citizens  the  laws  of  Germany,  England,  France,  Amer 
ica,  Spain,  Portugal,  et  al.t  insult  her  dignity  and  infringe  her 
sovereignty. 


A  NEW  AMERICAN  ORIENTAL  POLICY    307 

ally  attained.  Nations  must  abandon  territorial 
aggression  and  ambitions  injurious  to  others.  They 
must  learn  to  be  impartial.  They  must  gain  new 
conceptions  of  their  rights  and  responsibilities.  For 
this  the  efficiency  of  the  Permanent  Court  of  Arbi 
tration  at  The  Hague  should  be  developed.  Actual 
deeds  also  of  good-will  and  even  of  national  self- 
sacrifice  must  be  practised.  This  is  the  only  way  to 
allay  suspicion  and  evoke  good- will. 

"Peace  through  readiness  for  war"  is  fallacious, 
demanding  ever-increasing  armaments.  "Peace 
through  disarmament "  is  impossible  until  interna 
tional  suspicion  ceases.  The  only  road  to  universal 
peace  is  the  practice  of  international  self-sacrifice. 

"But  there  is  neither  East  nor  West, 

Boader  nor  Breed  nor  Birth 
When  two  strong  men  stand  face  to  face, 

Though  they  come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth." 

"Then  let  us  pray  that  come  it  may, 

As  come  it  will  for  a'  that, 
That  Sense  and  Worth  o'er  a'  the  earth, 

May  bear  the  gree,  an7  a'  that! 
For  a'  that,  an'  a'  that, 

It's  comin  yet  for  a'  that, 
THAT  MAN  TO  MAN  THE  WORLD  O'ER 
SHALL  BRITHERS  BE  FOR  A'  THAT." 


APPENDICES 


APPENDIX  A 

LITERATURE  RELATING  TO  THE  PROBLEM  OF 
THE  JAPANESE   IN   CALIFORNIA 

CHINESE  AND  JAPANESE  IN  AMERICA.  Annals  of  the  Amer 
ican  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science.  No.  114, 
Sept.,  1909.  217  pages.  The  arguments,  pro  and  con,  are 
presented  by  eleven  leaders  in  Parts  1  and  2.  Part  3  discusses 
National  and  International  Aspects  of  the  Exclusion  Move 
ment,  and  Part  4  the  Problem  of  Oriental  Immigration  Out 
side  of  America.  In  all,  some  twenty-three  leaders  of  thought 
present  the  various  aspects  of  this  immense  problem. 

AMERICAN  JAPANESE  RELATIONS  (1911). 

ASIA  AT  THE  DOOR  (1914). 

By  K.  Kawakami.  Two  large  and  important  volumes. 
The  first  deals  with  the  Japanese  in  Manchuria  and  Korea 
in  two  sections  and  in  the  third  section  presents  in  consider 
able  detail  the  condition  of  the  Japanese  in  California.  The 
second  volume  discusses  at  length  and  with  cogency  the 
Japan-American  situation.  Published  by  Fleming  H.  Revell 
Co. 

DISCRIMINATION  AGAINST  JAPANESE  IN  CALIFORNIA.  By 
Rev.  H.  B.  Johnson,  D.D.,  Superintendent  Japanese  Mis 
sions  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  1907.  133  pages.  This  pam 
phlet  was  prepared  shortly  after  the  settlement  of  the  so-called 
"Japanese  School  Question."  Its  purpose  is  to  preserve  all 
significant  published  utterances  for  and  against  the  Japanese. 
The  animus  of  the  Asiatic  exclusion  movement  is  clearly 
brought  out  by  copious  quotations  of  their  writings.  In  the 

311 


312  APPENDIX  A 

Appendix  are  President  Roosevelt's  messages  to  Congress 
concerning  the  Japanese  question  and  Secretary  Metcalf  s 
report. 

JAPANESE  IMMIGRATION,  ITS  STATUS  IN  CALIFORNIA.  By 
Yamato  Ichihashi,  A.M.,  formerly  special  agent  of  the  United 
States  Immigration  Commission.  Published  by  the  Japa 
nese  Association  of  America,  1913.  48  pages.  A  brief  but 
comprehensive  survey  of  the  statistics  of  Japanese  Immigra 
tion,  Occupations,  Economic  Status,  etc.,  etc. 

THE  ORIENTAL  IN  AMERICA.  By  Geo.  W.  Hinman,  Pacific 
District  Secretary  of  the  American  Missionary  Association. 
Published  by  the  Missionary  Education  Movement  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  1913.  Although  this  small 
pamphlet  covers  only  thirty-one  pages,  it  is  brimful  of  facts. 
It  seeks  to  present  the  actual  situation,  socially,  morally,  and 
religiously,  rather  than  an  argument. 

THE  PROPOSED  LAND  BILLS.  Prepared  and  published  by 
the  Japanese  Association  of  America,  1913.  This  pamphlet 
of  twenty  pages  consists  chiefly  of  newspaper  comments  and 
resolutions  passed  by  various  important  bodies  in  regard  to 
anti-alien  land  bills  presented  in  the  California  legislature. 

THE  MASTERY  OF  THE  PACIFIC.  An  oration  by  Jinji 
Kasai,  delivered  June  3, 1913,  in  the  assembly  hall  of  the  Uni 
versity  of  Chicago,  to  whom  was  assigned  the  first  prize  of 
one  hundred  dollars.  In  the  foreword,  President  H.  P.  Jud- 
son  truly  characterizes  the  oration  "  as  presenting  clearly  and 
forcefully  the  view  of  an  intelligent  young  man  from  Japan, 
educated  in  the  United  States,  eager  for  permanent  friendship 
between  the  two  nations,  and  to  that  end  pleading  for  justice 
in  the  Great  Republic."  Published  by  Chicago  University 
Press. 


APPENDIX  A  313 

THE  WORLD'S  MOST  MENACING  PROBLEM. 

RACE  PREJUDICE. 

CITIZENSHIP. 

Three  brief  but  highly  valuable  discussions  of  the  Japanese 
question  by  Professor  H.  H.  Guy,  for  many  years  a  missionary 
in  Japan.  Published  for  distribution  by  the  Japanese  Asso 
ciation  of  America. 

OUR  NATION'S  DUTY  TO  JAPAN.  An  address  by  Rev.  D. 
Scudder,  D.D.,  published  in  The  Friend  of  Honolulu,  June, 
1913.  A  trenchant  treatment  of  the  Japanese  question  from 
the  Christian  standpoint. 

THE  RECRUDESCENCE  OF  JAPANESE  AGITATION  IN  CALI 
FORNIA. 

THE  JAPANESE  IN  FLORIN. 
EDUCATION,  NOT  LEGISLATION. 

These  three  brief  pamphlets  of  eight,  seven,  and  twelve 
pages,  by  Alice  M.  Brown,  are  of  special  significance,  as  she 
speaks  with  full  knowledge  in  behalf  of  Japanese  and  from 
the  standpoint  of  one  who  has  watched  the  entire  develop 
ment  of  Japanese  life  in  Florin,  concerning  whose  "  wretched 
plight"  so  much  is  said  by  those  who  oppose.  Published 
for  distribution  by  the  Japanese  Association  of  America. 

A  SURVEY  OF  THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION  IN  CALIFORNIA. 
By  Messrs.  J.  Soyeda  and  T.  Kamiya,  special  commissioners 
from  Japan  for  the  investigation  of  the  Japanese  problem 
in  California.  This  pamphlet  of  sixteen  pages  presents  the 
result  of  that  investigation,  prepared  on  the  eve  of  their 
return,  August  6,  1913.  This  may  be  secured  from  the  Jap 
anese  Association  of  America. 

No  student  of  America's  Oriental  problem  should  fail  to 
familiarize  himself  with  the  reports  of  various  regular  and 


314  APPENDIX  A 

special  official  investigations,  of  which  the  following  are  the 
most  important: 

SENATE  DOCUMENT  No.  633.  Being  a  report  of  the  Immi 
gration  Commission.  Part  25.  Compiled  with  special  view 
to  impending  immigration  legislation.  Part  25  deals  with 
"Japanese  and  Other  Immigrant  Races  in  the  Pacific  Coast 
and  Rocky  Mountain  States." 
THE  BIENNIAL  REPORTS  OF  THE  CALIFORNIA  STATE  BUREAU 

OF  LABOR. 

THE  ANNUAL  REPORTS  OF  THE  COMMISSION  GENERAL  OF  IM 
MIGRATION. 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1913  a  number  of  maga 
zine  articles  appeared  in  the  weeklies  and  monthlies.  They 
fall  into  two  groups  according  as  they  take  positions  for  or 
against  the  Japanese  in  California.  The  ten  following  con 
stitute  a  fair  sample. 

7.  Anti-Japanese 

WHITE  AND  YELLOW  IN  CALIFORNIA.  W.  V.  Woehlke, 
The  Outlook,  May  10. 

THE  WORLD'S  MOST  MENACING  PROBLEM.  Editorial  in 
Collier's  Weekly,  May  31. 

JAPAN  IN  CALIFORNIA.  P.  C.  Macfarlane,  Collier's  Weekly, 
June  6. 


\ 


THE  JAPANESE  IN  CALIFORNIA.    Chester  H.  Rowell,  The 
World's  Work,  June. 

THE  JAPANESE  QUESTION  FROM  A  CALIFORNIAN  STAND 
POINT,  Jas.  D.  Phelan,  The  Independent,  June  22. 

II.  Pro-Japanese 

STRAINING  AN  HISTORIC  FRIENDSHIP.    Hamilton  Holt, 
The  Independent,  May  1. 


APPENDIX  A  315 

How  CALIFORNIA  TREATS  JAPANESE.  K.  Kawakami,  The 
Independent,  May  8. 

INTERRACIAL  AMITY  IN  CALIFORNIA.  Neeta  Marquis,  The 
Independent,  July  17. 

DANGEROUS  FALSEHOODS.    Editorial,  The  Outlook,  July  26. 

AMERICA  AND  JAPAN.  Hamilton  Mabie,  F.  G.  Peabody, 
and  J.  I.  Bryan.  Three  important  articles.  The  Outlook, 
August  2. 


APPENDIX  B 

A  SUMMARY  BY  LABOR  COMMISSIONER  J.  D. 
MACKENZIE  OF  THE  REPORT  OF  THE  "SPE 
CIAL  STATE  INVESTIGATION  OF  1909"  OF 
THE  JAPANESE  IN  CALIFORNIA.  GIVEN  TO 
THE  PRESS  MAY  30,  1910 

[In  1909  the  legislature  of  California  appropriated  $10,000 
to  provide  for  a  "  drastic  investigation  of  the  Japanese  ques 
tion.  .  .  .  This  covered  free-hold  and  lease-hold  lands,  the 
estimation  of  Japanese  by  their  neighbors,  their  value  and 
need  of  them  as  farm  laborers,  their  moral  relations  to  society 
and  the  industrial,  financial,  and  social  effect  of  their  presence 
here.  This  exhaustive  inquiry  was  ordered  in  the  language 
of  the  act  authorizing  it,  '  to  inform  the  legislature  and  the 
President  and  Congress/  The  investigation  was  made  by 
the  State  Labor  Commission,  and  the  testimony  taken  by 
him,  names  of  witnesses,  and  all  facts  went  into  his  report. 
The  result  was  that  this  investigation  so  thoroughly  disproved 
the  ground  upon  which  anti-Japanese  legislation  demanded 
by  the  legislators  who  promote  it,  that  our  State  Government 
has  suppressed  the  report  and  it  has  never  been  published." 
— (Quotation  from  the  letter  of  the  Delta  Association  of 
California  to  Hon.  William  J.  Bryan,  April  24,  1913,  on  the 
occasion  of  his  visit  to  California  to  confer  with  Governor 
Johnson  and  the  State  legislature  in  regard  to  the  proposed 
anti-alien  legislation.)] 

The  investigation  of  Japanese  in  agriculture  covered  visits 
to  4,102  farms  scattered  over  thirty-six  counties  and  growing 

316 


APPENDIX  B  317 

almost  every  crop  common  to  the  State  of  California.  Of 
this  total  number  of  farms  visited,  1,733  were  operated  by  Jap 
anese  farmers  as  owners,  cash  lessees  and  share  lessees.  The 
remaining  2,369  farms  were  operated  by  white  farmers,  being 
equally  distributed  between  those  employing  white  help  ex 
clusively  and  those  employing  mixed  races,  including  Jap 
anese.  These  4,102  farms  contained  697,236  acres  and  pro 
duced  crops  valued  approximately  at  $28,000,000  annually. 
On  these  farms  there  were  employed  during  the  past  year  an 
aggregate  of  80,982  persons  of  all  races,  9,452  of  whom  were 
women,  the  length  of  employment  varying  from  a  few  days  to 
a  year.  On  the  2,369  farms  operated  by  white  farmers,  em 
ploying  a  total  of  63,198  persons,  53.4  per  cent  of  the  labor 
employed  was  white,  36.4  per  cent  Japanese,  and  10.2  per 
cent  various  other  races,  including  Chinese,  Mexicans,  Hin 
dus,  and  Indians.  On  the  1,733  farms  operated  by  Japanese 
farmers,  employing  17,784  persons,  96  per  cent  of  the  labor 
employed  was  Japanese,  while  872,  or  4  per  cent,  was  equally 
divided  between  male  and  female  white;  in  other  words,  on 
the  basis  of  numbers  employed,  the  Japanese  furnished  prac 
tically  50  per  cent,  or  one  half,  of  the  labor  necessary  to  grow 
and  harvest  the  crop,  valued  at  $28,000,000,  produced  on  the 
farms  visited  in  this  investigation. 

The  farms  on  which  Japanese  were  not  employed  were,  as  a 
rule,  much  smaller  than  those  on  which  they  were  employed, 
the  former  averaging  159  acres,  the  latter  357,  demonstrating 
the  necessity  of  a  class  of  temporary  laborers  on  large  acre 
ages. 

Another  important  fact  developed  by  this  investigation 
was  the  relation  between  the  character  of  the  crop  grown 
and  the  employment  of  Japanese.  On  the  farms  where 
whites  were  employed  exclusively,  no  berries  or  nursery 
products  were  grown  and  very  little  vegetables  outside  of 
beans. 

The  relation  of  the  character  of  the  crop  to  the  employment 
of  Japanese  is  well  brought  out  in  the  following: 


318  APPENDIX  B 

On  the  2,369  farms  operated  by  white  farmers  the  percent 
age  of  labor  furnished  by  Japanese,  according  to  the  principal 
crops  grown,  was  as  follows: 

Berries 87.2  per  cent. 

Sugar  beets 66.3  per  cent. 

Nursery  products 57.3  per  cent. 

Grapes 51.7  per  cent. 

Vegetables 45.7  per  cent. 

Citrus  fruits 38.1  per  cent. 

Hops 8.7  per  cent. 

Deciduous  fruits 36.5  per  cent. 

Hay  and  grain 6.6  per  cent. 

Miscellaneous 19.6  per  cent. 

It  was  further  developed  in  this  investigation  that  the  fruit 
crops  peculiar  to  California  required  the  labor  of  a  large  num 
ber  of  persons  for  a  very  short  period  of  time.  The  average 
duration  of  employment  on  farms  visited  was  less  than  two 
months  in  the  year — 68.3  per  cent  of  the  whites  and  61.6  per 
cent  of  the  Japanese  were  employed  less  than  three  months 
and  only  16.6  per  cent  of  the  whites  and  10.7  per  cent  of 
the  Japanese  were  employed  permanently. 

The  average  wage  paid  by  white  farmers  to  white  help  was 
$1.38  per  day  with  board  and  $1.80  per  day  without  board 
and  to  the  Japanese  $1.49  per  day  with  board  and  $1.54  per 
day  without  board.  This,  however,  cannot  be  taken  as  the 
average  earnings  of  the  Japanese,  for  49.2  per  cent  of  the 
entire  number  employed  were  working  by  contract  or  piece 
work,  under  which  condition  the  earnings  of  the  Japanese  are 
much  larger  than  those  of  the  whites. 

The  average  wages  paid  to  Japanese  farm  labor  by  Jap 
anese  farmers  were  $1.57  per  day  with  board  and  $1.65  per 
day  without  board,  showing  that  the  Japanese  were  better 
paid  by  their  own  countrymen  than  by  the  white  farmer;  this 
for  two  reasons — first,  that  they  are  in  greater  demand  by 
their  own  countrymen,  and,  second,  that  only  12.5  per  cent 


APPENDIX  B  319 

of  the  total  number  employed  by  Japanese  farmers  were 
working  by  contract  or  piece-work. 

Japanese  Farms. — One  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  Japanese  farms  were  visited,  of  which  132,  contain 
ing  3,876  acres,  were  operated  by  Japanese  owners;  1,170 
farms,  containing  46,480  acres,  by  Japanese  cash  lessees; 
and  431  farms,  containing  33,028  acres,  by  Japanese  share 
lessees.  These  farms  produced  crops  valued  at,  approx 
imately,  over  $6,000,000.  The  most  important  crop  grown 
was  vegetables,  which  amounted  to  approximately  $2,500,000, 
the  next  being  deciduous  fruits,  $1,750,000,  and  berries, 
$730,000. 

Landownership  by  Japanese. — The  records  of  the  county 
assessors  on  November  1,  1909,  show  199  farms,  containing 
10,791  acres,  owned  by  Japanese  in  the  State  of  California. 
These  farms  were  assessed  at  $330,401  on  land  and  $46,927 
on  improvements,  making  a  total  of  $397,298,  and  were 
mortgaged  to  the  extent  of  $173,584.  The  records  also  show 
185  holdings  of  town  property  assessed  at  $174,694,  of  which 
$79,600  was  on  land  and  $85,394  on  improvements.  These 
holdings  were  mortgaged  to  the  extent  of  $50,359. 

Leasing  by  Japanese. — A  very  small  percentage  of  the 
leases  are  recorded,  only  319  leases,  covering  20,294  acres, 
being  found  on  the  books  of  the  county  recorders.  The 
actual  leaseholdings  of  the  Japanese  in  the  State  of  California 
amounted  to  55,000  acres  on  cash  leases  and  60,000  on  share 
leases.  There  were  also  recorded  113  leases  on  town  prop 
erty.  The  farms  held  under  cash  lease  by  Japanese  average 
40  acres,  the  largest  number  being  from  5  to  20  acres.  The 
leases  were  principally  for  short  terms,  50.6  per  cent  being 
for  three  years  or  less.  The  total  rental  paid  on  these  leases 
was,  approximately,  $700,000  per  annum,  the  prevailing 
price  being  from  $20  to  $30  per  acre  per  annum.  The  farms 
held  under  share  leases  by  the  Japanese  average  75J^  acres, 
the  largest  number  being  from  20  to  75  acres.  One  half  of 
the  leases  were  drawn  for  a  term  of  one  year  or  less.  On  most 


320  APPENDIX  B 

of  them  the  Japanese  received  50  per  cent  of  the  gross  pro 
ceeds  on  crops  raised. 

Japanese  in  Commercial  Pursuits. — That  part  of  the  in 
vestigation  relating  to  the  Japanese  in  business  and  activi 
ties  other  than  agriculture  is  practically  complete.  Two 
thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-eight  establishments  were 
visited  through  the  State.  One  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
thirty-four  were  owned  by  individuals,  550  by  partnerships, 
and  64  by  corporations.  Nineteen  and  four-tenths  per  cent 
have  been  in  business  less  than  one  year,  24.2  per  cent  for 
one  year,  17.2  per  cent  for  two  years,  and  15.9  per  cent  for 
three  years,  making  a  total  of  76.7  per  cent  of  the  total  estab 
lished  since  1906.  Only  58  establishments,  or  2.3  per  cent 
of  the  total,  have  been  in  existence  for  ten  years  or  more. 
The  capital  invested  in  most  instances  was  very  small,  68.7 
per  cent  of  the  total  having  a  capital  of  less  than  $1,000. 
The  total  aggregate  cash  invested  amounted  to  over  $4,- 
000,000.  The  total  annual  transactions  of  these  Japanese 
establishments  amounted  to  $16,114,407,  of  which  $5,938,012, 
or  36.8  per  cent,  was  with  the  white  people.  The  total 
annual  rent  paid  by  these  firms  was  over  $900,000.  Six  thou 
sand  five  hundred  and  fifty-six  persons  were  engaged  in  the 
conducting  of  these  establishments,  of  which  number  2,546 
males  and  562  females  (principally  wives  of  owners)  were 
employers  and  3,214  males  and  234  females  employees.  In 
addition  there  were  employed  by  these  Japanese  finms  35  male 
and  20  female  white  persons.  One  thousand  four  hundred 
and  ten,  or  55.3  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  establish 
ments  were  conducted  entirely  by  the  owners.  In  1,782 
establishments,  or  69.9  per  cent,  the  employees  lodged  at  the 
place  of  work. 

The  sanitary  condition  of  the  places  of  work  was  reported 
as  follows: 

Good 81.8  per  cent. 

Fair 16.8  per  cent. 

Bad 1.4  per  cent. 


APPENDIX  B  321 

Sanitary  condition  of  the  places  of  lodging: 

Good 68.5  per  cent. 

Fair 27.3  per  cent. 

Bad 4.2  per  cent. 

One  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  or  61.5  per 
cent,  of  the  total  number  of  establishments  were  located  in 
the  seven  principal  cities  of  the  State,  as  follows: 

Los  Angeles 505 

San  Francisco 497 

Oakland 178 

Sacramento 154 

Fresno 100 

San  Jose 79 

Stockton 54 

Although  San  Francisco  did  not  contain  the  largest  num 
ber  of  establishments,  34  per  cent  of  the  entire  investment 
was  represented  there  and  40.2  per  cent  of  the  total  amount 
of  business  transacted  therein. 

The  prevailing  number  of  hours  worked  per  day  was  ten 
and  over,  and  the  prevailing  wages  paid  were  from  $25  to 
$35  per  month  with  board  and  $40  to  $50  without  board. 

Japanese  Population. — The  Japanese  population  of  the 
State  of  California,  based  upon  the  records  of  the  United 
States  Immigration  Bureau,  the  records  of  the  steamship 
companies  entering  the  port  of  San  Francisco,  and  the 
records  of  this  office,  was  estimated  at  41,628  on  January  1, 
1910.  About  10  per  cent  of  this  total  were  females. 

In  the  fifteen  months  ending  January  1,  1910,  836  Japanese 
entered  the  port  of  San  Francisco  from  Japan  and  Hawaii, 
and  4,184  departed  to  Japan  and  Hawaii,  showing  a  net  de 
crease  of  3,348.  These  figures  were  obtained  from  records 
kept  by  steamship  companies  under  the  direction  of  this 
bureau. 


322  APPENDIX  B 

In  the  three  years  1906,  1907,  and  1908,  810  births  and 
1,332  deaths  of  Japanese  were  recorded  in  the  State  of  Cali 
fornia,  showing  a  large  excess  of  deaths  over  births. 

This  investigation  shows  the  distribution  of  the  adult  male 
Japanese  population  to  be  as  follows : 

65  per  cent  were  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits. 

15  per  cent  were  employed  chiefly  by  white  employers 

and  engaged  principally  in  domestic  or  personal 

service. 
15  per  cent  were  either  Japanese  employers  or  their 

employees,   engaged  principally  in   supplying  the 

wants  of  the  Japanese  population  throughout  the 

State. 
5  per  cent  were  engaged  in  miscellaneous  pursuits,  such 

as  officials,  professionals,  students,  etc. 

Individual  cards  were  obtained  from  18,378  Japanese,  or 
about  one  half  of  the  total  adult  Japanese  population  of  this 
State.  Of  these,  16,642  were  males  and  1,736  females. 
Sixty-eight  per  cent  of  the  male  and  77.5  per  cent  of  the 
female  population  were  between  twenty  and  thirty-five  years 
of  age.  Of  the  males,  62.7  per  cent  were  single  and  35.3 
per  cent  married,  whereas  only  3.7  per  cent  of  the  females 
were  single  and  94.8  per  cent  married. 

At  the  time  of  this  investigation  54.4  per  cent  of  the  male 
and  74  per  cent  of  the  female  Japanese  had  only  been  in  the 
United  States  for  five  years  or  less. 

Sixty-three  and  three-tenths  per  cent  of  the  wives  of  the 
married  males  resided  in  Japan,  while  only  36.7  per  cent 
resided  in  the  United  States.  Of  the  wives  residing  in  the 
United  States,  61.2  per  cent  had  children  and  38.8  per  cert 
were  without  children. 

Sixty-six  and  two-tenths  per  cent  of  the  rural  Japanese 
population  were  agriculturalists  before  coming  to  the  United 
States. 


APPENDIX  B  323 

Japanese  School  Children. — There  were  818  Japanese  chil 
dren  attending  the  public  schools  in  California  in  the  year 
1909.  These  were  distributed  as  follows: 

Kindergarten 1  male  5  females 

Primary  schools 269  males  140       " 

Grammar  schools 150     "  31 

High  schools 137     "  3 

Evening  schools  (mostly 

adults) 71      "  1  female 

Total. .  .  .628  males        180  females 


APPENDIX  C 

TWO  CHARTS  ILLUSTRATING  THE  PROPORTION 
OF  WHITE  AND  JAPANESE  FARM  LABORERS, 
ACCORDING  TO  THE  PRINCIPAL  CROPS, 
TAKEN  FROM  THE  FOURTEENTH  BIENNIAL 
REPORT  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  LABOR  STATIS 
TICS,  1909-10,  PAGES  270-279 


CHART  I 

RACE  OF   FARM  LABOR  EMPLOYED,    ACCORDING  TO   PRINCIPAL 
CROP   GROWN 

"In  this  chart  there  is  presented  the  percentage  of  farm 
labor  of  different  races  employed,  according  to  the  principal 
crop  grown.  These  percentages  are  based  on  a  record  of 
2,369  farms  operated  by  white  farmers.  These  farms  were 
located  in  practically  all  the  important  agricultural  and  hor 
ticultural  sections  of  the  State.  They  contained  613,852 
acres,  on  which  were  raised  crops  to  the  value  of  $23,000,000. 
On  these  farms  there  were  employed  during  the  year  a  total 
of  63,198  persons.  The  chart  shows  at  a  glance  the  crops 
which  are  dependent  upon  either  white  or  Japanese  labor." 


324 


APPENDIX  C 


325 


326  APPENDIX  C 


CHART  II 

RACE   OF   FARM  LABOR  EMPLOYED,  ACCORDING  TO   PRINCIPAL 
OCCUPATIONS 

"  In  this  chart  the  percentage  of  white  and  Japanese  labor 
is  shown  according  to  the  various  occupations.  Reading 
down  the  list  of  occupations,  it  shows  the  class  of  work  which 
the  white  farm  laborer  dislikes  and  which  is  now  performed 
by  the  Japanese,  while  reading  up  it  shows  the  class  of  work 
which  is  still  congenial  to  the  white  farm  laborer,  and  in 
which  the  Japanese  have  been  unable  to  gain  a  foothold. 
The  white  fruit-packers  and  fruit-cutters  are  practically  all 
female." 


APPENDIX  C 


327 


APPENDIX  D 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  TREATY  OF  COMMERCE 
AND  NAVIGATION  AND  PROTOCOL  BETWEEN 
JAPAN  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMER 
ICA  OF  FEBRUARY  21,  1911 

[This  treaty  consists  of  eighteen  articles,  all  of  which  bear 
on  some  aspect  of  commerce  and  navigation.  The  essence 
of  the  treaty  lies  in  the  repeated  assertion  of  reciprocal  rights 
and  privileges  and  treatment  on  the  basis  of  equality  with 
the  "most  favored  nation."  For  simplicity  and  brevity  only 
parts  of  the  treaty  are  here  reproduced.] 

His  Majesty,  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  and  the  President  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  being  desirous  to  strengthen 
the  relations  of  amity  and  good  understanding  which  hap 
pily  exist  between  the  two  nations,  and  believing  that  the 
fixation  in  a  manner  clear  and  positive  of  the  rules  which  are 
hereafter  to  govern  the  commercial  intercourse  between  their 
respective  countries  will  contribute  to  this  most  desirable 
result,  have  resolved  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  commerce  and 
navigation. 

Article  I. — The  subjects  or  citizens  of  each  of  the  high 
contracting  parties  shall  have  liberty  to  enter,  travel,  and 
reside  in  the  territories  of  the  other,  to  carry  on  trade,  whole 
sale  and  retail,  to  own  or  lease  and  occupy  houses,  manu 
factories,  warehouses,  and  shops,  to  employ  agents  of  their 
choice,  to  lease  land  for  residential  and  commercial  purposes, 
and  generally  to  do  anything  incident  to  or  necessary  for 
trade,  upon  the  same  terms  as  native  subjects  or  citizens,  sub 
mitting  themselves  to  the  laws  and  regulations  there  estab 
lished. 

328 


APPENDIX  D  329 

They  shall  not  be  compelled,  under  any  pretext  whatever, 
to  pay  any  charges  or  taxes  other  or  higher  than  those  that 
are  or  may  be  paid  by  native  subjects  or  citizens. 

The  subjects  or  citizens  of  each  of  the  high  contracting 
parties  shall  receive,  in  the  territories  of  the  other,  the  most 
constant  protection  and  security  for  their  persons  and  prop 
erty  and  shall  enjoy  in  this  respect  the  same  rights  and  priv 
ileges  as  are  or  may  be  granted  to  native  subjects  or  citizens, 
on  their  submitting  themselves  to  the  conditions  imposed 
upon  the  native  subjects  and  citizens. 

Article  IV. — There  shall  be  between  the  territories  of  the 
two  high  contracting  parties  reciprocal  freedom  of  commerce 
and  navigation.  The  subjects  or  citizens  of  each  of  the  con 
tracting  parties,  equally  with  the  subjects  or  citizens  of  the 
most  favored  nation  shall  have  liberty  freely  to  come  with 
their  ships  and  cargoes  to  all  places,  ports,  and  rivers  in  the 
territories  of  the  other  which  are  or  may  be  opened  to  foreign 
commerce,  subject  always  to  the  laws  of  the  country  to  which 
they  thus  come. 

Article  V. —  .  .  .  Neither  contracting  party  shall  impose 
any  other  or  higher  duties  or  charges  on  the  exportation  of 
any  article  to  the  territories  of  the  other  than  are  or  may  be 
payable  on  the  exportation  of  the  like  article  to  any  other 
foreign  country. 

Nor  shall  any  prohibition  be  imposed  by  either  country 
on  the  importation  or  exportation  of  any  article  from  or  to 
the  territories  of  the  other  which  shall  not  equally  extend  to 
the  like  article  imported  from  or  exported  to  any  other 
country.  .  .  . 

Article  VIII. —  .  .  .  There  shall  be  perfect  equality  of 
treatment  in  regard  to  exportation.  .  .  . 

Article  IX. —  .  .  .  the  intention  of  the  contracting  parties 
being  that  in  these  respects  the  respective  vessels  shall  be 
treated  on  the  footing  of  perfect  equality. 

Article  XL — No  duties  of  tonnage,  harbor,  pilotage,  quar 
antine,  or  other  similar  duties  .  .  .  shall  be  imposed  .  .  . 


330  APPENDIX  D 

which  shall  not  equally  under  the  same  conditions  be  im 
posed  on  national  vessels  in  general  or  on  vessels  of  the  most 
favored  nation. 

Article  XIII. — The  coasting  trade  of  the  high  contracting 
parties  is  excepted  from  the  provisions  of  the  present  treaty 
and  shall  be  regulated  according  to  the  laws  of  Japan  and  the 
United  States  respectively.  It  is,  however,  understood  that 
the  subjects  or  citizens  of  either  contracting  party  shall 
enjoy  in  this  respect  most-favored-nation  treatment  in  the 
territories  of  the  other. 

Article  XIV. — Except  as  otherwise  expressly  provided  in 
this  treaty,  the  high  contracting  parties  agree  that  in  all  that 
concerns  commerce  and  navigation,  any  privilege,  favor, 
or  immunity  which  either  contracting  party  has  actually 
granted  or  may  hereafter  grant,  to  the  subjects  or  citizens  of 
any  other  state  shall  be  extended  to  the  subjects  or  citizens  of 
the  other  contracting  party  ...  on  the  same  or  equivalent 
conditions.  .  .  . 

Declaration 

In  proceeding  this  day  to  the  signature  of  the  treaty  of 
commerce  and  navigation,  .  .  .  the  undersigned  has  the 
honor  to  declare  that  the  Imperial  Japanese  Government  are 
fully  prepared  to  maintain  with  equal  effectiveness  the  lim 
itation  and  control  which  they  have  for  the  past  three  years 
exercised  in  regulation  of  the  laborers  to  the  United  States. 

(Signed)          Y.  UCHIDA. 

February  21,  1911. 

[Being  a  treaty  of  commerce  and  navigation,  it  contains 
nothing  in  regard  to  immigrants  and  their  property  and  other 
rights.  Reciprocity  is  its  one  recurring  emphasis  in  regard 
to  every  item  that  is  taken  up.  Article  I,  singularly  enough, 
omits  the  purchase  and  ownership  of  land  as  one  of  the  rights 
to  be  mutually  enjoyed  in  the  pursuit  of  trade.] 


APPENDIX  E 

EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  TREATY  BETWEEN  THE 
UNITED  STATES  AND  CHINA  CONCERNING 
IMMIGRATION  OF  NOVEMBER  17,  1880,  AND 
REFERENCES  TO  THE  SUBSEQUENT  ACTS 
OF  CONGRESS  RELATIVE  TO  THE  SAME 

Whereas,  .  .  .  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  be 
cause  of  the  constantly  increasing  immigration  of  Chinese 
laborers  to  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and  the  em 
barrassment  consequent  upon  such  immigration,  now  desires 
to  negotiate  a  modification  of  the  existing  treaties  which 
shall  not  be  in  direct  contravention  of  their  spirit: 

Now,  therefore  .  .  .  the  President  of  the  United  States 
.  .  .  and  the  Emperor  of  China  .  .  .  have  agreed  upon  the 
following  articles  in  modification. 

Article  I. —  .  .  .  The  Government  of  China  agrees  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  may  regulate,  limit,  or  sus 
pend  such  coming  or  residence,  but  may  not  absolutely  pro 
hibit  it.  The  limitation  or  suspension  shall  be  reasonable, 
shall  apply  only  to  Chinese  who  may  go  to  the  United  States 
as  laborers,  other  classes  not  being  included  in  the  limitations. 
.  .  .  Immigrants  shall  not  be  subject  to  personal  maltreat 
ment  or  abuse. 

Article  II. — Chinese  subjects,  whether  proceeding  to  the 
United  States  as  teachers,  students,  merchants,  or  from  curi 
osity,  together  with  their  body  or  household  servants,  and 
Chinese  laborers  who  are  now  in  the  United  States  shall  be 
allowed  to  go  and  come  of  their  own  free  will  and  accord, 
and  shall  be  accorded  all  the  rights,  privileges,  immunities, 
and  exemptions  which  are  accorded  to  the  citizens  and  sub 
jects  of  the  most  favored  nation. 

331 


332  APPENDIX  E 

Article  III. — If  Chinese  laborers  .  .  .  meet  with  ill  treat 
ment  at  the  hands  of  other  persons,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  will  exert  all  its  power  to  devise  measures  for 
their  protection  and  to  secure  to  them  the  same  rights,  priv 
ileges,  immunities,  and  exemptions  as  may  be  enjoyed  by 
citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most  favored  nation,  and  to  which 
they  are  entitled  by  treaty. 

Congress,  on  May  6,  1882,  authorized  the  suspension  for 
ten  years  of  Chinese  labor  immigration.  Section  14  of  that 
act  provided  that  no  State  or  Federal  court  "shall  admit 
Chinese  to  citizenship"  and  "all  laws  in  conflict  with  this 
act  are  hereby  repealed." 

On  September  13,  1888,  Congress  passed  an  act  restrict 
ing  the  condition  under  which  Chinese  laborers  already  in 
the  United  States  would  be  allowed  to  re-enter  after  a  visit 
to  China. 

On  May  5,  1892,  Congress  continued  for  a  second  decade 
the  suspension  of  Chinese  labor  immigration. 

On  April  29,  1902,  Congress  voted  that  "  All  laws  in  force 
April  29,  1902,  regulating,  suspending,  or  prohibiting  the 
coming  of  Chinese  persons  ...  are  hereby  reenacted,  ex 
tended,  and  continued,  without  modification,  limitation,  or 
condition." 


APPENDIX  F 
CALIFORNIA'S  ANTI-ALIEN  LAND  LAW 

[This  law  ingeniously  utilizes  the  distinction  made  by  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  between  aliens  eligible  for  citizen 
ship  and  those  not  eligible,  and  enacts  race  discriminatory 
legislation.  It  also  seizes  ingeniously  on  the  failure  of  the 
landownership;  it  forbids  this  right  to  Japanese  and  other 
similarly  situated  aliens.  It  makes  impossible  for  Japanese 
the  purchase,  ownership,  and  inheritance  not  only  of  agri 
cultural  land  but  of  any  land  whatever,  even  for  business  or 
residential  purposes.] 

An  act  relating  to  the  rights,  powers  and  disabilities  of  aliens 
and  of  certain  companies,  associations  and  corporations 
with  respect  to  property  in  this  state,  providing  for  escheats 
in  certain  cases,  prescribing  the  procedure  therein,  and  re 
pealing  all  acts  or  parts  of  acts  inconsistent  or  in  conflict 
herewith. 

[Approved  May  19,  1913.] 

The  people  of  the  State  of  California  do  enact  as  follows: 

SECTION  1.  All  aliens  eligible  to  citizenship  under  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  may  acquire,  possess,  enjoy,  transmit 
and  inherit  real  property,  or  any  interest  therein,  in  this 
State,  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  except  as  otherwise  provided  by  the  laws 
of  this  State. 

SEC.  2.  All  aliens  other  than  those  mentioned  in  section 
one  of  this  act  may  acquire,  possess,  enjoy  and  transfer  real 
property,  or  any  interest  therein,  in  this  State,  in  the  manner 
and  to  the  extent  and  for  the  purposes  prescribed  by  any 
treaty  now  existing  between  the  government  of  the  United 

333 


334  APPENDIX  F 

States  and  the  nation  or  country  of  which  such  alien  is  a  citi 
zen  or  subject,  and  not  otherwise,  and  may  in  addition  thereto 
lease  lands  in  this  State  for  agricultural  purposes  for  a  term 
not  exceeding  three  years. 

SEC.  3.  Any  company,  association  or  corporation  or 
ganized  under  the  laws  of  this  or  any  other  State  or  nation, 
of  which  a  majority  of  the  members  are  aliens  other  than  those 
specified  in  section  one  of  this  act,  or  in  which  a  majority 
of  the  issued  capital  stock  is  owned  by  such  aliens,  may  ac 
quire,  possess,  enjoy  and  convey  real  property,  or  any  inter 
est  therein,  in  this  State,  in  the  manner  and  to  the  extent 
and  for  the  purposes  prescribed  by  any  treaty  now  existing 
between  the  government  of  the  United  States  and  the  nation 
or  country  of  which  such  members  or  stockholders  are  citizens 
or  subjects,  and  not  otherwise,  and  may  in  addition  thereto 
lease  lands  in  this  State  for  agricultural  purposes  for  a  term 
not  exceeding  three  years. 

SEC.  4.  Whenever  it  appears  to  the  court  in  any  probate 
proceeding  that  by  reason  of  the  provisions  of  this  act  any 
heir  or  devisee  can  not  take  real  property  in  this  State  which, 
but  for  said  provisions,  said  heir  or  devisee  would  take  as  such, 
the  court,  instead  of  ordering  a  distribution  of  such  real 
property  to  such  heir  or  devisee,  shall  order  a  sale  of  said  real 
property  to  be  made  in  the  manner  provided  by  law  for  pro 
bate  sales  of  real  property,  and  the  proceeds  of  such  sale  shall 
be  distributed  to  such  heir  or  devisee  in  lieu  of  such  real 
property. 

SEC.  5.  Any  real  property  hereafter  acquired  in  fee  in 
violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  act  by  any  alien  mentioned 
in  section  two  of  this  act,  or  by  any  company,  association  or 
corporation  mentioned  in  section  three  of  this  act,  shall  es 
cheat  to,  and  become  and  remain  the  property  of  the  State  of 
California.  The  attorney  general  shall  institute  proceedings 
to  have  the  escheat  of  such  real  property  adjudged  and  en 
forced  in  the  manner  provided  by  section  474  of  the  Political 
Code  and  title  eight,  part  three  of  the  Code  of  Civil  Proce- 


APPENDIX  F  335 

dure.  Upon  the  entry  of  final  judgment  in  such  proceedings, 
the  title  to  such  real  property  shall  pass  to  the  State  of  Cali 
fornia.  The  provisions  of  this  section  and  of  sections  two  and 
three  of  this  act  shall  not  apply  to  any  real  property  hereafter 
acquired  in  the  enforcement  or  in  satisfaction  of  any  lien  now 
existing  upon,  or  interest  in  such  property,  so  long  as  such  real 
property  so  acquired  shall  remain  the  property  of  the  alien, 
company,  association  or  corporation  acquiring  the  same  in 
such  manner. 

SEC.  6.  Any  leasehold  or  other  interest  in  real  property 
less  than  the  fee,  hereafter  acquired  in  violation  of  the  pro 
visions  of  this  act  by  any  alien  mentioned  in  section  two  of 
this  act,  or  by  any  company,  association  or  corporation  men 
tioned  in  section  three  of  this  act,  shall  escheat  to  the  State 
of  California.  The  attorney  general  shall  institute  proceed 
ings  to  have  such  escheat  adjudged  and  enforced  as  provided 
in  section  five  of  this  act.  In  such  proceedings  the  court  shall 
determine  and  adjudge  the  value  of  such  leasehold,  or  other 
interest  in  such  real  property,  and  enter  judgment  for  the 
State  for  the  amount  thereof  together  with  costs.  Thereupon 
the  court  shall  order  a  sale  of  the  real  property  covered  by 
such  leasehold,  or  other  interest,  in  the  manner  provided  by 
section  1271  of  the  Code  of  Civil  Procedure.  Out  of  the  pro 
ceeds  arising  from  such  sale,  the  amount  of  the  judgment 
rendered  for  the  State  shall  be  paid  into  the  State  treasury 
and  the  balance  shall  be  deposited  with  and  distributed  by  the 
court  in  accordance  with  the  interest  of  the  parties  therein. 

SEC.  7.  Nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  as  a  limita 
tion  upon  the  power  of  the  State  to  enact  laws  with  respect  to 
the  acquisition,  holding  or  disposal  by  aliens  of  real  property 
in  this  State. 

SEC.  8.  All  acts  and  parts  of  acts  inconsistent,  or  in  con 
flict  with  the  provisions  of  this  act,  are  hereby  repealed. 


APPENDIX  G 
LANDOWNERSHIP  BY  FOREIGNERS  IN  JAPAN 

The  following  statement  of  Japanese  laws  regarding  the 
rights  of  foreigners  in  Japan  to  own  and  lease  land  was  made 
by  Consul-General  Y.  Numano  and  published  in  The  Sacra 
mento  Bee,  April  28,  1913: 

To  the  Editor  of  The  Bee: 

Sir:  I  have  your  communication  of  the  23d  inst.  asking  me 
for  a  statement  of  the  present  laws  and  practices  of  Japan 
relative  to  the  holding  or  acquisition  of  land  by  aliens  in  that 
Empire. 

In  reply  thereto,  I  beg  to  state  that,  under  date  of  April  13, 
1910,  a  law  was  promulgated  by  the  Japanese  Parliament, 
which  provided  as  follows: 

Article  1. — Foreigners  domiciled  or  resident  in  Japan  and 
foreign  juridical  persons  registered  therein  shall  enjoy  the 
right  of  ownership  in  land,  provided  always  that  in  the  coun 
tries  to  which  they  belong  such  right  is  extended  to  Japanese 
subjects  and  Japanese  juridical  persons;  and  provided,  fur 
ther,  in  case  of  foreign  juridical  persons  that  they  shall  obtain 
permission  of  the  Minister  for  Home  Affairs  in  acquiring  such 
ownership. 

The  foregoing  provisions  shall  be  applicable  only  to  for 
eigners  and  foreign  juridical  persons  belonging  to  the  coun 
tries  to  be  designated  by  Imperial  ordinance. 

Article  2. — Foreigners  and  foreign  juridical  persons  shall 
not  be  capable  of  enjoying  the  right  of  ownership  in  land  in 
the  following  districts:  First,  Hokkaido;  second,  Formosa; 
third,  Karafuto;  fourth,  districts  necessary  for  National  de 
fense. 

336 


APPENDIX  G  337 

The  districts  coming  under  No.  4  of  the  preceding  para 
graph  shall  be  designated  by  Imperial  ordinance. 

Article  3. — In  case  a  foreigner  or  a  foreign  juridical  person 
owning  land  ceases  to  be  capable  of  enjoying  the  right  of 
ownership  in  land,  the  ownership  of  such  land  shall  accrue 
to  the  fiscus  (the  Imperial  Treasury),  unless  he  disposes  of  it 
within  a  period  of  one  year. 

In  case  a  foreigner,  by  reason  of  losing  his  domicile  or  resi 
dence  in  Japan,  or  a  foreign  juridical  person,  on  account  of 
withdrawing  his  business  establishment  or  office  from  Japan, 
ceases  to  be  capable  of  enjoying  the  right  of  ownership  in 
land,  the  period  mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph  shall 
be  five  years. 

If  any  land  owned  by  a  foreigner  or  a  foreign  juridical  per 
son  is  situated  within  the  district  designated  under  the  last 
paragraph  of  the  preceding  article  as  necessary  for  national 
defense,  and  if,  in  consequence,  the  ownership  of  such  land 
accrues  to  the  fiscus,  the  damage  thereby  caused  to  the  former 
owner  shall  be  compensated. 

In  case  of  the  failure  to  arrive  at  an  accord  with  regard  to 
the  amount  of  compensation  mentioned  in  the  preceding  para 
graph,  a  suit  may  be  brought  before  an  ordinary  Court  of 
Justice. 

Article  4. — The  date  for  putting  the  present  law  into  force 
shall  be  determined  by  Imperial  ordinance. 

There  follow  four  other  articles  which  I  do  not  quote, 
because  they  relate  to  details  not  pertinent  to  the  main 
issue,  viz.:  The  desire  of  the  Japanese  Government  to  put 
aliens  on  a  par  with  native  subjects  in  the  matter  of  land- 
ownership. 

You  will  please  notice,  from  the  provisions  of  Article  I, 
that  the  extension  of  the  privilege  of  landownership,  to  for 
eigners,  in  Japan,  is  conditioned  upon  the  extension  of  similar 
rights  to  the  subjects  of  Japan  by  the  Governments  of  other 
countries.  In  other  words,  it  is  designed  to  be  reciprocal  in 
its  operation. 


338  APPENDIX   G 

You  will  please  note,  further,  that  Article  IV  provides  that 
the  date  for  putting  the  law  into  force  shall  be  determined 
by  Imperial  ordinance. 

Such  Imperial  ordinance  has  not,  as  yet,  been  promulgated, 
due,  undoubtedly,  to  the  fact  that  the  Government  is  now 
engaged  in  an  investigation  as  to  the  rights  and  privileges 
extended  to  the  subjects  of  Japan  in  the  matter  of  and  own 
ership  by  other  nations.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  when 
this  investigation  has  been  completed,  such  Ordinance,  fixing 
the  date  of  operation,  will  be  promptly  issued. 

With  regard  to  the  status  of  this  matter  prior  to  the  enact 
ment  of  the  law  of  April  13,  1910,  there  were  certain  restric 
tions,  greatly  softened  in  their  practical  operation  by  the 
existence  of  a  liberal  leasing  system  which  granted  rights  and 
privileges  to  foreigners  which  were  practically  equivalent  to 
ownership  in  fee  simple. 

Article  II  of  the  Civil  Code  of  Japan,  provides  that  foreign 
ers  are  entitled  to  all  civil  rights  excepting  such  as  are  denied 
by  statute  or  treaty  stipulation.  The  only  statute  on  the 
subject  containing  a  prohibition  is  found  in  Article  XL,  of 
Imperial  Edict  XVIII,  promulgated  under  date  of  January  6, 
1874,  and  reading  as  follows: 

"  Land  shall  not  be  sold,  hypothecated  or  mortgaged  to  for 
eigners,  nor  shall  deeds  or  titles  be  passed  conveying  to  them 
ownership  rights." 

It  is  proper  to  state  here  that  such  prohibitive  clauses  in 
the  Japanese  law,  running  against  the  right  of  an  alien  to  hold 
land,  ran  against  him  as  an  individual,  not  as  a  corporation. 
(Juridical  person.)  A  corporation,  organized  under  Japanese 
law,  had  the  same  rights  as  a  native  subject  whether  its  stock 
was  held  in  whole  or  in  part  by  foreigners.  There  never  was 
a  time  when  aliens,  organized  as  a  Japanese  corporation, 
could  not  hold  title  to  land  in  Japan. 

The  leasing  system,  still  operative  in  Japan,  may  be  briefly 
outlined  as  follows : 

The  term  superfices  is  given  to  land  leases,  made  to  either 


APPENDIX  G  339 

natives  or  foreigners  for  purposes  of  forestry  or  general  im 
provement.  No  time  limit  is  fixed  to  this  class  of  leases. 
They  may  run  for  one  year  or  be  made  in  perpetuity.  Pay 
ments  are  subject  to  agreement  and  may  be  made  monthly 
or  annually.  In  case  of  perpetuity  the  entire  sum  agreed 
upon  may  be  paid  over  to  the  lessor  at  the  commencement  of 
the  lease  term,  which,  practically,  amounts  to  purchase. 

Another  form  of  lease  is  known  (technically)  as  emphyteu- 
sis,  granted  to  natives  and  aliens  alike  for  purposes  of  agri 
culture  and  stock  raising.  These  leases  run  for  periods  rang 
ing  from  twenty  to  fifty  years,  with  privilege  of  renewal. 
The  conditions  of  payment  are  subject  to  contract,  or  the 
whole  may  be  paid  at  commencement  of  contract  term. 

There  is,  in  addition,  an  ordinary  form  of  lease  which  runs 
for  periods  of  less  than  twenty  years  with  privilege  of  renewal. 
Such  leases  are  subject  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  contract  and 
guarantee  to  foreigners  every  right  and  privilege  enjoyed  by 
native  subjects. 

Such  is,  in  brief,  a  statement  of  the  present  law  and  prac 
tices  in  Japan,  relative  to  the  ownership  of  land  by  foreigners. 

Trusting  that  it  has  been  made  sufficiently  clear  to  indicate 
the  liberal  attitude  of  my  Government,  I  beg  to  remain,  very 
truly  yours, 

Y.  NUMANO, 
Acting  Consul  General  of  Japan. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Advertiser,  Japan,  238 

Aggregation  of  races,  160-168 

Alaska,  226-229,  251 

Alien  registration  and  education, 
bureaus  of,  289-291 

Aliens,  federal  responsibility  in 
legal  matters  involving,  293, 
294 

Alliance  Treaty,  the,  187 

Amalgamation  of  races,  147  et 
seq. 

"American  and  Japanese  Di 
plomacy  in  China,"  200 

"American  Mind,  The,"  141 

Anti-alien  land  law,  88,  190,  200, 
333-335 

Anti- Asiatic  spirit,  consequences 
of,  274-280 

Anti-Japanese  feeling  in  Cali 
fornia,  169-173 

Anti-Japanese  legislation,  19,  21, 
22,  65-66,  102,  103,  169,  188 
et  seq.',  objectionable  features 
of,  190-196;  292,  294,  302 

Aoki,  Mrs.,  children  of,  140,  155 

Aoki,  Viscount,  154 

Arbitration,  treaty  of  unlimited, 
186 

Arnold,  Sir  Edwin,  143 

Aryan,  The,  quoted,  274,  275 

Asia,  awakening  of,  199-203; 
economic  and  industrial  com 
petition  in,  259-264;  new  at 
titude  toward  the  West,  242- 
244;  progress  m,  203-215; 
scorn  of  whites  in,  236;  West 
ern  ideas  in,  236 

Asiatic  acquisition  of  occidental 
civilization,  259-261 

Asiatic  Exclusion  League,  the, 
61,  169 


Asiatic  exclusion  policy,  224, 
225,  274 

Asiatics,  number  of,  in  America, 
3;  antipathy  toward,  68,  69; 
attitude  toward  white  race, 
6-8;  characteristics  of,  4,  5; 
civilization  compared  with 
American,  4;  illusions  of,  con 
cerning  White  Peril,  269;  race 
pride  of,  202 

Assimilation,  race,  biological  and 
social,  16-18,  118  et  seq.,  147 
et  seq.,  169  et  seq.,  294,  295 

Banks  and  banking,  Japanese, 
40-43 

Benevolence,  department  of  na 
tional,  296-299 

Biological  and  social  assimila 
tion,  national  commission  on, 
294,  295 

Biological  heredity,  120  et  seq., 
152,  164,  165,  179,  180 

Boas,  Professor  F.,  135-138 

Bodily  form,  changes  in,  135- 
140 

Bonnheim,  A.,  42 

Boys'  club,  Japanese,  161 

Brent,  Bishop,  72 

Briner,  Mr.,  88 

Brinkley,  Captain,  154 

Brothels,  57 

Brown,  Alice  M.,  81,  82,  88,  313 

Brown,  J.  B.,  81,  86 

Bryan,  Secretary,  89 

Buchner,  Rev.  Mr.,  81,  88 

Buddhist  mission  in  America, 
109,  110 

Bushido  society,  the,  45,  46,  58 

Business  morality,  Japanese,  39- 
51 


343 


344 


INDEX 


California,  anti-Japanese  argu 
ment,  187;  anti-Japanese  feel 
ing  in,  169-173;  anti-Japa 
nese  legislation  in,  3,  19-22, 
169,  188  et  seq.,  200,  292,  295, 
302,  333-335;  five  reasons  for 
opposition  to  Japanese  immi 
gration,  11-21;  mistaken  ideas 
regarding  Japanese,  25,  26; 
new  oriental  policy  in,  284; 
special  State  investigation,  29, 
32,  316-330 

California  Outlook,  the,  188 

Canada,  228-230 

Carnegie,  Mr.,  73;  quoted,  225, 
226;  271 

"Changes  in  Bodily  Form  of 
Descendants  of  Immigrants," 
quoted,  136 

Chauvinism,  61,  62,  113 

China,  awakening  of,  200-203; 
changes  in,  145;  industries  of, 
6;  friendly  policy  toward,  303, 
306;  loss  of  sovereignty,  232, 
237;  military  conditions  in, 
217;  opportunities  in,  210;  po- 
litical  incompetence,  245; 
trade  with  America,  304;  trea 
ty  with  United  States,  331 

Chinese,  28,  71;  antipathy  to, 
21;  bank  clerks,  40,  41;  do 
mestics,  52;  exclusion  law,  3, 4; 
farm  labor,  32;  immigration, 
331 ;  labor  compared  with  Jap 
anese,  36-38;  supposed  points 
of  superiority  of,  16 

Chinese  and  Hawaiian  inter 
marriages,  156 

Chinese  boycott,  the,  193 

Chinese  republic,  the,  200 

Chirol,  Sir  Valentine,  223 

Christian  missions,  114-117,  209, 
233,  234,  271,  272 

Christians,  Japanese,  74-76,  98- 
100,  105,  110-117 

Churches,  Japanese,  114-117 

Citizens,  Japanese  as,  38,  39 

Citizenship,  eligibility  for  Amer 


ican,  292;  of  foreigners  in  Ja 
pan,  63,  66;   of  Japanese  in 
America,  66,  67 
Clannishness,  Japanese,  35 
Collier's  Weekly,  77,  89,  314 
Commerce,    international,    207, 

270,  277,  278,  328-330 
Commercial  pursuits,  320,  321 
Commons,    Professor   John   R., 

165 
Commonwealth    Club    of    San 

Francisco,  74 

Cross-breeding,    122,    125,    131, 
132,  179,  180 

Delta  Association  of  California, 

316 

Dendodan,  the,  98,  99 
Dharmapala,  Mr.,  quoted,  239, 

240;  267 

Dillingham,  Senator,  288 
Domestic  service,  Japanese,  14, 

52-56 

Ebara,  Hon.  S.,  104,  105,  109, 

110 
Economic  Yellow  Peril,  the,  218 

et  seq.,  259-264,  304 
Education,  American,  in  oriental 

history,  299-301 
Education  of  aliens,   110,   290, 

291;  of  Japanese  children  in 

America,  160-164,  323 
"Elder  Statesmen,"  198 
Eliot,  President  Charles  W.,  73, 

131,  147 

Emigration,     economic    advan 
tages  of,  205-208 
Emigration  societies  in  Japan, 

185 

Emperor  Meiji  Tenno,  198,  199 
Emperor  William  of  Germany, 

216 

Employers,  Japanese,  13,  34 
England,  treaties  with,  186 
English,  Japanese  acquisition  of, 

101,  102,  134,  163 
Eurasians,  139,  156,  157 


INDEX 


345 


"Evolution  of  the  Japanese,  So 
cial  and  Psychic,"  61 

Examiner,  California,  quoted, 
108 

Exclusion  policy  in  California, 
22,  23,  274 

Face,   Japanese,   expression   of, 

132-135 

Farmers,  white,  in  Florin,  84,  88 
Farms,  Japanese,  12, 13,  34,  316- 

319 
Farm  workers,  Japanese,  30-38, 

324-327 
Feil,  Mr.,  88 
Feudalism,  Japanese,  46-48,  58, 

133,  198 

Firms,  Japanese,  43,  44,  320,  321 
Fishberg,  Maurice,  137,  138 
Florin,  18;  conditions  in,  77-89; 

farmers,  84,  88;  land  values, 

85;    population,   83;   schools, 

84,  85 

Forbes,  Adjutant-General,  80 
"  Four-powers  loan,"  the,  200 
Friend,  The,  106 
Fukushima,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  155 

"Gentlemen's  agreement,"  the, 
3,  22,  95,  101,  186,  187,  190 

Harada,  President,  116 
Harris,  Minister,  105,  186 
Hart,  Sir  Robert,  217 
Hattori,  Hon.  A.,  104;  abstract 

from  address  of,  106 
Hawaii,  66,  106,  109,  156,  161, 

163,  185,  204,  321 
Hearn,  Lafcadio,  143,  167 
Heredity,  biological  and  social, 

120  et  seq.j  152,  164-168,  179, 

180 
Hinman,  Rev.  Mr.,  quoted,  114- 

117,  312 

Hirabara,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  82 
Hobson,  Captain,  217,  253,  255, 

256 
Honda,  Bishop,  116,  200 


Ibuka,  Mr.,  110 

Immigrants,  Japanese,  percent 
age  of  female,  91,  92 

Immigration,  effect  of,  on  locali 
ties,  35;  Japan's  attitude  to 
ward,  62-65;  statistics,  286, 
287;  suggested  new  law,  284- 
289 

Immigration,  Japanese,  census 
reports  of,  10,  11;  five  reasons 
for  California's  opposition  to, 
11-21;  economic  charges 
against,  28-38;  Chinese,  331 

Immigration  and  naturalization, 
bureau  of,  291 

Immigration  Commission,  32; 
report  of,  101,  102,  314 

India,  Count  Okuma  on,  240 

Indians,  American,  20 

Inter-Denominational  Evangel 
istic  Board,  98 

Intermarriage  of  races,  18,  73, 
118,  119,  129  et  seq.;  good  re 
sults  of,  152-156;  dangers  of, 
157-160;  offspring  of,  155- 
157,  177,  178 

International  justice,  306,  307 

International  news,  regulation 
of,  295,  296 

Inui,  K.  S.,  90 

Island  of  Shikoku,  shrine  in  the, 
164 

Ito,  Prince,  198 

Japan,  advantages  of  location 
of,  197;  adoption  of  occidental 
civilization,  126,  145, 146,  202; 
American  influence  in,  204, 
205;  anti-alien  policy  of,  6; 
anti-American  feeling  in,  19, 
.  61;  attitude  of,  toward  Cali 
fornia's  anti-alien  legislation, 
3,  102-104;  attitude  toward 
immigration,  62,  63,  65;  at 
titude  of,  toward  the  white 
race,  7,  8;  banks  in,  40-43; 
citizenship  of  foreigners  in, 
63,  66;  commerce  with  United 


346 


INDEX 


States,  207;  emigration  socie 
ties  in,  185;  exclusion  policy 
in,  abandoned,  234,  235;  feu 
dalism  in,  46-48,  198;  first  em 
igration  from,  185;  friend 
ship  with  United  States,  185- 
187,  199;  government  of,  199; 
hours  of  labor  in,  30,  31;  igno 
rance  of  American  characteris 
tics,  25,  26;  industries  of,  6; 
investigation  of  conditions  in 
California,  103  et  seq.',  land- 
ownership  by  foreigners  in, 
63,  64,  66,  336-339;  laws  non- 
differential,  64,  65;  military 
conditions  in,  249-258;  scorn 
of  money  in,  44-46;  the  new, 
185,  197  et  seq.;  ocean  trans 
portation  of,  253,  254;  race  el 
ements  of,  129;  racial  antipa 
thy  in,  68-70;  resentment  of 
exclusion  policy,  23;  self-con 
tradictory  position  of,  19,  20; 
lack  of  time-consciousness  in, 
48;  treaties  with  United  States, 
23,  185-187,  194,  328-330 
Japanese  acquisition  of  English, 
101,  102;  amalgamation,  147 
et  seq. ;  assirnilability,  16-18,  61 
et  seq.,  118-183;  banking  mo 
rality,  40-43;  benefits  from 
presence  of,  in  America,  193; 
business  morality,  39-51 ; 
changes  in  racial  characteris 
tics  of,  134-140,  166,  167; 
characteristics  of,  16-18,  70- 
76,  140-145;  Christians,  74- 
76,  98-100,  105,  110-117,  233; 
churches,  114-117;  as  citizens, 
38,  39,  66,  67;  claim  of  race 
equality,  19,  62;  clannishness, 
13,  35;  in  commerce,  320;  in 
domestic  service,  14,  52-56; 
education  of  children,  160-164, 
323;  employers,  13,  34;  facial 
expression,  132-135;  as  farm 
workers,  30-38,  324-327; 
farms,  195, 316-319;  firms,  44, 


320,  321;  feeling  against,  in 
California,  169-173;  friendly 
dealing  with,  173-177,  181- 
183,  196;  immigration  to  Cali 
fornia,  10-21;  immorality,  56, 
57,  71,  73,  85,  86;  inter 
marriage  with  whites,  18, 
147-160,  177,  178;  labor,  11, 
12,  29-31,  36-38,  58-60,  195, 
324-327;  landownership,  191, 
195,  319;  leaders,  111-113, 
117;  lodging  places,  321;  moral 
character  of,  14-16,  50,  51; 
naturalization  of,  19,  20,  62 
et  seq.,  291;  as  neighbors,  86, 
87;  patriotism  of,  17,  164,  165; 
politeness,  46-48,  51;  popula 
tion,  321 ;  as  property-owners, 
12,  33,  34,  191,  195;  retalia 
tion,  57,  58;  scorn  of  money, 
44-46;  students,  101,  185,  204; 
as  tenants,  86,  319;  time-con 
sciousness,  48,  49 

Japanese  Association,  the,  81,  83, 
87,  90, 94,  96,  99,  116,  175,  312 

Japanese  Diet,  the,  63 

"  Japanese  Evolution,  Social  and 
Psychic,"  144 

Japanese  Farmers'  Association, 
97,  100 

Japanese-invasion  hallucination, 
the,  250-258 

Japanese  Producers'  Associa 
tion,  the,  96;  aims  of,  97 

"Japanese  quarter,"  the,  12 

Jews,  129,  138;  social  assimila 
tion  of,  150,  151 

"Jews,  The,"  quoted,  137,  138 

Johnson,  Governor,  89,  190 

Johnson,  Hon.  Albert,  quoted, 
217,  226-228;  251,  268 

Kawakami,  K,  155,  311,  315 
Kearney,  Dennis,  203 
Kehara,  Rev.  H.,  116 
Kessel,  F.  W.,  43 
Kikuchi,  Baron,  quoted,  241 
Knox,  Secretary,  199 


INDEX 


347 


Kokumin,  the,  100 
Kozaki,  Mr.,  110 

Labor,  Japanese,  competition 
with  white,  11,  12,  29-32; 
contrasted  with  Chinese,  36- 
38;  hours  of,  30,  31;  condi 
tions,  30,31,  58-60,  195,  320; 
324-327 

Laborers,  Japanese,  58-60 

Lamarckian  factor  in  race  char 
acters,  135 

Landownership  in  America, 
Japanese,  12,  13,  191,  195,  319 

Landownership  by  foreigners  in 
Japan,  63,  64,  66,  336-339 

Landsborough,  Mr.,  81,  86,  88, 
89 

Land  values  in  Florin,  85 

Language,  English,  101, 102, 134, 
136;  Japanese,  163 

Lea,  Homer,  251,  253 

Leaders,  Japanese,  broad-minded 
attitude  of,  111-113;  117 

Legal  and  legislative  matters  in 
volving  aliens,  293,  294 

Legislation,  see  Anti-Japanese 
legislation 

Literature  relating  to  Japanese 
in  California,  311-315 

Lodging  places,  321 

Lowell,  Percival,  143 

MacArthur,  Walter,  quoted,  4,  5 
Macfarlane,  P.  C.,  77,  83,  89,  314 
Mackenzie,    J.    D.,    his    "Sum 
mary  for  the  Press,"  29,  316 
Magazines,  97,  100 
Mahan,   Admiral,   quoted,   223, 

224;  265,  266 

Manchuria,  railways  in,  199 
Marriages,  immigrant,  91-96 
Mendelian   law   of   inheritance, 

the,  125,  126 

Merchants,  Japanese,  44,  320 
Merwin,  Mr.,  88 
Military  Yellow  Peril,  the,  67, 
194,  217  et  seq.,  248-258,  304 


Missionaries,  Japanese,  176,  177 
Missions,     114-117,    209,    233, 

234,  271,  272 
Money,  Japanese  scorn  of,  44- 

46 

Nagai,  Professor,  quoted,  238, 
239 

Nationalist,  the,  100 

Naturalization,  bureau  of,  291 

Naturalization  of  Japanese,  19, 
20,  62  et  seq.,  291 

Negroes,  20,  113,  130,  153,  276 

Neighbors,  Japanese  as,  86,  87 

Nemoto,  Sho,  116 

Neo-Lamarckians,  135 

Newspapers,  Japanese,  100;  ex 
aggerations  in  American,  295, 
296 

Nitobe,  Professor,  170 

Okuma,  Count,  quoted,  111, 
240 

Orient,  the  new,  192,  203-215, 
283 

Oriental  history,  education  in, 
299-301 

"Oriental  in  America,  The," 
quoted,  114-117 

Oriental  Peace  Society,  111 

Oriental  policy  of  the  United 
States,  outlined,  281-307;  fun 
damental  principles,  282-284; 
good  results  of,  302-306 

Outlook,  The,  41,  314,  315 

Ozaki,  Mr.,  wife  of,  154 

Panama  Exposition,  114 
Pan-Aryan  Alliance,  267,  269 
Pan-Aryan  Association,  the,  249 
Pan-Asiatic  Alliance,  248,  249 
Patriotism,  Japanese,  17, 164, 165 
Perkins,  United  States  senator, 

quoted,  4,  60 
Perry,  Bliss,  141 
Perry,  Commodore,  145,  186 
"Picture-bride"  movement,  the, 

73,  91-96 


348 


INDEX 


Politeness,  Japanese,  46-48,  51 

Political  conditions  among  Jap 
anese,  13,  14 

Population,  Japanese,  321,  322 

Portsmouth  Treaty  of  Peace, 
186 

"Potato  King,"  the,  34 

Prefectural  Clubs,  98 

Progressive  party  of  California, 
190 

Property,  Japanese  as  owners  of, 
12,  33,  35 

Psychic  assimilation,  149 

Psychic  race  characteristics,  140— 
144 

"Quadrilateral"  alliance,  the 
proposed,  227,  228,  266,  268 

Race  aggregation,  160-168; 
amalgamation,  147  et  seq.;  an 
tipathy,  21,  68-70;  assimila 
tion,  118  et  seq.,  147  et  seq.', 
characters,  physiological  and 
psychological,  119  et  seq.,  165; 
equality,  19,  62,  282;  feeling, 
119,  171,  172;  problem,  3-9; 
psychic  characteristics  of,  140- 
144;  segregation,  186;  trans 
formation,  134-139 

"Races  and  Immigrants  in 
America,"  quoted,  165,  166 

Racial  characteristics  of  Jap 
anese,  16-18;  changes  in,  134- 
139,  166,  167 

Reese,  John,  his  account  of  Jap 
anese  invasion  of  Florin,  78- 
80;  81,  84-86,  89 

Registration,  bureaus  of  alien, 
289-291 

Retaliation,  Japanese  habits  of, 
57,  58 

Roman  Catholic  missionaries, 
233,  234 

Roosevelt,  President,  22,  189, 
199,  226 

Rowell,  Chester  H.,  15,  188, 
192,  195,  314 


Royce,  Professor  Josiah,  quoted, 

141 
Russo-Japanese  War,  the,   199, 

232,  233,  249 

Sacramento  Bee,  quoted,  77-81, 
336-339 

Samurai,  Sons  of,  44,  45 

San  Francisco  Chamber  of  Com 
merce,  45 

School  question,  the,  186 

Schools  in  Florin,  84,  85 

Segregation,  race,  186 

Servants,  Japanese,  52-56 

Shima,  Mr.,  34 

Shin  Tenchi,  the,  100 

Shinheimin,  the,  113 

Simons,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  81 

Smith,  Honorable  Frank  O., 
quoted,  221-223,  228-230,  268 

Social  assimilation  of  races,  148- 
152,  160  et  seq.,  266 

Social  heredity,  120  et  seq.,  152, 
165-168,  179,  180 

Soyeda,  J.,  104,  105;  107,  313 

Special  State  Investigation  of 
1909,  the,  10,  29,  32,  316-330 

Strikes,  labor,  14,  30 

Students,  Japanese,  101,  185, 
204 

"Survey  of  the  Japanese  Ques 
tion  in  California,"  quoted, 
107 

Suyehiro,  Professor,  110 

Suzuki,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  81,  82,  87 

Taft,  President,  189 
Takamine,  Doctor,  154 
Tenants,  Japanese  as,  86,  319 
Time-consciousness,  48,  49 
Times,  The,  223 
Tokutomi,  Mr.,  238 
Tootel,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  81,  88 

United  States,  census  reports  on 
Japanese  immigration  to,  10, 
11 ;  commerce  with  Japan,  207; 
friendship  with  Japan,  199; 


INDEX 


349 


Japanese  churches  in,  114;  op 
portunities  for  good  influence 
in  Asia,  203-208;  oriental 
policy  suggested,  281-307;  so 
cial  assimilation  in,  150-152, 
160;  treaty  with  China,  331; 
treaties  with  Japan,  23,  185- 
187,  194,  328-330;  unjust 
treatment  of  Japan,  199,  200 

Vacaville,  18 

Vancouver  Saturday  Sunset,  the, 

quoted,  274,  275 
Voting,  67 

"  Way  of  the  Warrior,"  the,  45, 46 
Webb,  Attorney-General,  189 


White  Peril,  the,  9,  216,  231- 
246,  269-273;  illusion,  274-280 

Wilson,  President,  189;  quoted, 
304,  305 

Woehlke,  W.  V.,  quoted,  41,  314 

Working  classes,  value  of  emi 
gration  to,  206-208 

Xavier,  Francis,  233 

Yellow  Peril,  the,  8,  192;  two 
forms  of,  216  et  seq.',  methods 
for  warding  off,  224-230;  il 
lusions  regarding,  248  et  seq., 
259  et  seq.',  dangers  of  illu 
sions,  274-280,  295,  304 

Yoshino,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  81,  82 


RETURN     CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

TO—  *      202  Main  Library 

LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

Renewals  and  Recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  the  due  date. 

Books  may  be  Renewed  by  calling     642-3405. 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 

5RfllMWl995 

1 

-L  ^  rx       ft     4     1OQC 

MAR  01  199b 

' 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
FORM  NO.  DD6  BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


I 


CDDSMDfln? 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


